459.  Suya atrigularis, Moore[A]. The Black-throated Hill-Warbler.

[Footnote A:  I reproduce this article nearly as it appears in the ‘Rough Draft;’ but I have great doubts as to the occurrence of this bird in Kumaon, and I further doubt the identification of Hodgson’s notes with this species.  It is quite clear, from his specimens in the British Museum, that Hodgson confounded S. atrigularis in winter plumage with S. crinigera, and his plate of the former in summer plumage contains no note on nidification.—­ED.]

Suya atrogularis, Moore, Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 184; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 549.

The Black-throated Hill-Warbler breeds in Kumaon and the Himalayas eastwards from thence, at elevations of 4000 to 6000 feet.

The breeding-season lasts from April to July, but the birds mostly lay in May and June.  Open grassy hillsides dotted about with scrub, thin forests, or gardens are the localities it affects.  The nest is placed at times in some low bush surrounded with and grown through by grass, more commonly in clumps of grass, and never at any great height from the ground.  It is more or less egg-shaped, and placed with the longer diameter vertical, the entrance being on one side above the middle.  It is composed exteriorly sometimes of fine grass-roots, sometimes of the finest possible grass, loosely but sufficiently firmly interwoven, a little moss being often incorporated in the upper portion, and internally always, I think, exclusively of fine grass.

Four is perhaps the usual number of the eggs, but I have found five.

Mr. Gammie, writing from Sikhim, says:—­“I have found four nests of this species this year in the Chinchona reserves, at elevations of from 4500 to 5500 feet, during the months of May and June.  The nests were all in open grassy country, in grass by the sides of low banks, and not above a foot off the ground.  They are globular, with a lateral entrance, composed of grass, and with a little moss about the dome.  One I measured was 5.5 high, and 4.5 in diameter externally; internally the nest was 2.4 in diameter, and the cavity had a total height of 3.9, of which 2 inches was below the lower edge of the entrance.  According to my experience four is the regular complement of eggs.  I have repeatedly (three times this year) shot the female off the nest, and beyond question Jerdon is wrong about this bird’s laying Indian-red eggs.”

According to Mr. Hodgson’s notes, this species breeds in groves and open forest in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal from April to June, building a large globular nest in clumps of grass, of dry grass, roots, and moss, lined with fine grass and moss-roots.  The entrance, which is circular, is at one side; the nest is egg-shaped, the longer diameter being perpendicular, and is placed at a height of about 6 inches from the ground.  A nest taken on the 30th.  May measured 6.12 in height and 3.5 in diameter externally, and the circular aperture, which was just above the middle, was 1.75 in diameter.  It contained four eggs, which are represented as ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end, measuring 0.69 by 0.55.  The ground-colour is a pale green, and they are speckled and spotted with bright red, the markings being most numerous towards the large end, where they have a tendency to form a zone or cap.