88 TITRDID^E. 



Subfamily TURDIN^. 



667. Merula simillima (Jerd.). The Nilghiri Blackbird. 



Merula simillima (Jerd.}, Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 525 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 360. 



Of the Nilghiri Blackbird Mr. H. E. P. Carter says : " At 

 Conoor, on the Nilghiris, I have found nests of this bird from the 

 25th of March to the 18th of May, on which latter date a nest 

 was being built. The nest is always in the fork of a tree or shrub, 

 varying in height from 3 to 20 feet from the ground. I found 

 several in coffee-bushes, one on a tree-fern, others on rhododen- 

 dron trees, and one on the Australian acacia. In shape it is 

 hemispherical and open at the top. There is always a foundation 

 of mud, and a superstructure of thin twigs or coarse fibres, and it 

 is lined generally with fine fibres, but sometimes has scarcely any 

 lining. 



" I have found from one to three eggs. In the case of the 

 single egg, the young bird was well developed, and as it was in a 

 tree 20 feet from the ground, it is not likely that any eggs had 

 been taken out. As I found six nests, each containing three eggs, 

 I think that this must be the usual number ; at the same time I 

 have been told that a greater number are sometimes laid. 



" This Blackbird builds its nest in a remarkably short time. On 

 one occasion I saw a nest completed in four days. It is just pos- 

 sible that there may have been a portion of a day's work done 

 before I saw it ; but even five days is a very short time for so 

 small a bird to complete a nest which must weigh at least 2J Ibs." 



The nests of this species, of which I owe a magnificent series to 

 my friend Mr. Carter, are always, apparently, very massive struc- 

 tures, containing an inner skeleton of mud, completely hidden 

 from sight by an exterior coating of moss or lichen, or fine or 

 coarse grass-roots, and an interior lining of fine grass-roots. The 

 bird appears to lay a light foundation of dead leaves, lichen, or 

 fern, and on this to build a more or less deep cup on the wattle- 

 and-dab principle a few coarse grass-roots twisted together as a 

 skeleton, and then thickly plastered with mud or wet mould. The 

 cup thus made is often about 4J inches in diameter and 2| deep. 

 It is then covered, externally, to the thickness of one or two inches 

 with whatever materials are nearest at hand, grass or other roots, 

 dry slender ferns, soft green moss, or masses of tree-lichen. The 

 interior of the cup is first lined with rather coarse roots, and 

 then finished off with fine ones. No particle of the clay skeleton 

 is visible in the finished nest, which may average about 7 inches 

 in diameter externally, stands about 4 inches high, and has an 

 egg-cavity some 3| inches in diameter by 2 inches deep. In all the 

 nine nests now before me the inner earthen framework is present, 

 but in some it extends scarcely more than \ inch up the sides of 

 the nest, while in others it comes up to within % inch of the upper 



