number from four to five and vary
in shape. I have found them sometimes nearly round, but more generally
the usual shape. They vary in their colour, too, some being much
lighter than others, but most of them have a few hair-like streaks on
the larger end."
From Mussoorie Captain Hutton tells us that "the Black-throated Jay
breeds in May and June, placing the nest sometimes on the branch of a
tall oak tree (_Quercus incana_), at other times in a thick bush. It
is composed of a foundation of twigs, and lined with fine roots of
grass &c. mixed with the long black fibres of ferns and mosses, which
hang upon the forest trees, and have much the appearance of black
horse-hair. The nest is cup-shaped, rather shallow, loosely put
together, circular, and about 41/2 inches in diameter. The eggs are
sometimes three, sometimes four in number, of a greenish stone-grey,
freckled, chiefly at the larger end, with dusky and a few black
hair-like streaks, which are not always present; they vary also in
the amount of dusky freckling at the larger end. The nestling bird is
devoid of the lanceolate markings on the throat."
From Nynee Tal Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"The Black-throated
Jay builds a very small cup-shaped nest of black hair-like creepers
and roots, intertwined and placed in a rough irregular casing of
twigs. A nest found on the 2nd June containing three hard-set eggs was
placed conspicuously on the top of a young oak sapling about 7 feet
high, standing alone in an open glade, in the forest on Aya Pata,
which is about 7000 feet above the sea. Another nest, found at an
elevation of about 4500 feet on the 9th June, contained two eggs; it
was placed about 10 feet from the ground in a small tree in a hedgerow
amongst cultivated fields."
Mr. Hodgson notes from Jaha Powah:--"Found five nests of this species
between 18th and 30th May. Builds near the tops of moderate-sized
trees in open districts, making a very shallow nest of thin elastic
grasses sparingly used and without lining. The nest is placed on some
horizontal branch against some upright twig, or at some horizontal
fork. It is nearly round and has a diameter of about 6 inches. They
lay three or four eggs of a sordid vernal green clouded with obscure
brown."
The eggs are somewhat lengthened ovals, very much smaller than, though
so far as coloration goes very similar to, those of _G. glandarius_.
The ground-colour in some is a brown stone colour, in others pale
gr
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