Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':—"This species breeds in June, July, and August, laying its eggs in a hole of a tree, or in one which has been previously excavated by the Yellow-fronted Barbet or Red Woodpecker. It often nests in the sugar- or kitool-palm, and in one of these trees in the Peak forest I took its eggs in the month of August. There was an absence of all nest or lining at the bottom of the hole, the eggs, which were two in number, being deposited on the bare wood. The female was sitting at the time, and was being brought fruit and berries by the male bird. While the eggs were being taken the birds flew round repeatedly, and settled on an adjacent tree, keeping up a loud whistling. The eggs are obtuse-ended ovals, of a pale greenish-blue ground-colour (one being much paler than the other), sparingly spotted with large and small spots of lilac-grey, and blotched over this with a few neutral-brown and sepia blots. They measure from 1·3 to 1·32 inch in length by 0·96 to 0·99 in breadth."
527. Calornis chalybeïus (Horsf.). The Glossy Calornis.
Calornis chalybaeus[A] (Horsf.), Hume, cat. no. 690 bis.
[Footnote A: Mr. Hume considers the Andaman Calornis distinct from the Calornis inhabiting Cachar, Tenasserim, &c. I have united them in the 'Birds of India.'—Ed.]
Of the Glossy Calornis Mr. Davison remarks that "it is a permanent resident at the Nicobars, breeding in holes in trees and in the decayed stumps of old cocoanut-palms, apparently from December to March. At the Andamans it is much less numerous, and is only met with in pairs or in small parties, frequenting the same situations as it does in the Nicobars."
Mr. J. Inglis writes from Cachar:—"This Tree-Stare is rather rare. It breeds about April in the holes of dead trees; when the young are able to fly it departs. It again returns about the middle of February."
In Tenasserim this species was observed nesting by Mr. J. Darling, junior, who says:—"22nd March. Noticed several pairs of Calornis, with nests, in the big wooden bridge over the Kyouk-tyne Creek about 1½ mile out of Tavoy, and also a great number of their nests in the old wooden posts of an old bridge further down the Creek."
Mr. W. Davison, when in the Malay peninsula, took the eggs of this bird. He remarks:—"I found a few pairs frequenting some areca-palms at Laugat, and breeding in them, but only one nest contained eggs, three in number. The nest was a loose structure almost globular, but open at the top, composed externally of very coarse dry grass (lallung or elephant-grass), and lined with green durian leaves cut into small bits. The nest was too lightly put together to preserve. This nest and several other empty ones were placed at the base of the leaves where they meet the trunk.
"The three eggs obtained were slightly set, so that three is probably the normal number laid.
"I noticed several other pairs breeding at the same time in holes of a huge dead tree on Jugra Hill at Laugat, but I was unable to get at the nests."