The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 by Allan O. Hume
page 78 of 758 (10%)
page 78 of 758 (10%)
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"It builds in banks, or holes in trees, at all heights from the ground, from 3 to 30 feet. It is fond of taking possession of the old nest-holes of the Green Woodpecker. The nest is built of fur or fur and moss, and always lined with fine fur, generally that of hares. Its shape depends upon that of the hole in which it is placed, but the egg-cavity or depression is about 3 inches in diameter and an inch in depth. "It lays four, five, and sometimes six eggs, but I think more commonly only four." Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"I once found its nest in a deserted bungalow at Kallia, in the corner of the house. It was made chiefly of the down of hares (_Lepus nigricollis_), mixed with feathers, and contained six eggs, white spotted with rusty red." The eggs resemble in their general character those of many of our English Tits, and though, I think, typically slightly longer, they appear to me to be very close to those of _Parus palustris_. In shape they are a broad oval, but somewhat elongated and pointed towards the small end. The ground-colour is pinkish white, and round the large end there is a conspicuous, though irregular and imperfect, zone of red blotches, spots, and streaks. Spots and specks of the same colour, or occasionally of a pale purple, are scantily sprinkled over the rest of the surface of the egg, and are most numerous in the neighbourhood of the zone. The eggs have a faint gloss. Some eggs do not exhibit the zone above referred to, but even in these the markings are much more numerous and dense towards the large end. |
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