[Footnote A: HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS, Bonap. The Grey Hypocolius. Hypocolius ampelinus, Bp., Hume, cat. no. 269 quat.

Although this bird has not yet been found breeding within Indian limits, the following account of its nidification at Fao, in the Persian Gulf, by Mr. W.D. Cumming (Ibis, 1886. p. 478) will prove interesting:—

"It is not till the middle of June that they breed.

"In 1883, first eggs were brought by an Arab about the 13th of June, and on the 15th of the same month I found a nest containing two fresh eggs. In 1884, on the 14th of June a nest was brought me containing four fresh eggs, and on the 15th I found a nest containing also four fresh eggs.

"2nd July, I came across four young birds able to fly. On the 3rd, three nests were brought, one containing two fresh eggs, another three young just fledged, and the other four eggs slightly incubated. On the 9th, another nest, containing four young just fledged was brought. On the 15th I saw a flock of small birds well able to fly; on the 18th I found a nest containing four young about a couple of days old, and on the 20th a nest containing three eggs well incubated was brought from a place called 'Goosba' on the opposite bank (Persian side) of the river.

"The nests are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palm, at no very great height. The highest I have seen was built about ten feet from the ground but from three to five feet is the average height.

"They are substantial and cup-shaped, having a diameter of about 31/4 inches by 21/4 inches in depth, lined inside with fine grass, the soft fluff from the willow when in seed, wool, and sometimes hair.

"The eggs are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden-coloured blotches and spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring round the larger end and at times spreading over the entire egg. On rare occasions I have noticed a greenish tinge in very fresh eggs. This, I think, is due to the colour of the inner membrane, which is generally a very light green, in some very faint and in others more decided; this tinge seems to disappear after the egg is blown.

"Very rough measurements are as follows:—0.9 x 0.63; 0.83 x 0.63; 0.83 x 0.6; 0.83 x 0.66; 0.86 x 0.66."]



Subfamily BRACHYPODINAE.

263. Criniger flaveolus (Gould). The White-throated Bulbul.

Criniger flaveolus (Gould), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 83; Hume. Rough Draft N. & E. no. 451.

A nest of this species sent me from Darjeeling was found in July, at an elevation of about 3000 feet.

It was placed on the branches of a medium-sized tree, at a height of only about 5 feet from the ground.

The nest was a compact, rather shallow saucer, 5.5 inches in diameter and about 2 inches in height externally. The cavity was about 3.5 in diameter and an inch in depth. The greater portion of the nest was composed of dead leaves bound together firmly by fine brown roots; inside the leaves was just a lining of rather coarser brown roots, and again an inner lining of black horsehair-like roots and fine steins of the maiden-hair fern.

The nest contained three fresh eggs. These eggs vary from broad to somewhat elongated ovals, are more or less pointed towards the small end, and exhibit a fine gloss.

The ground is a beautiful salmon-pink, and it is thinly spotted, blotched, and marked with irregular lines of deep maroon-red. Most of the markings in one egg are gathered into a very irregular straggling zone round the large end, and the other egg exhibits a tendency to form a similar zone. Besides these primary markings a few spots and clouds of dull purple, looking as if beneath the surface of the shell, are thinly scattered about the egg, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the zone.

These eggs vary from 0.9 to 1.0 in length, and from 0.7 to 0.72 in breadth.

Several nests of this species sent me by the late Mr. Mandelli and obtained by him in British and Native Sikhim during July and the early part of August are all precisely of the same type. They each contained two fresh eggs; they were all placed in the branches of small trees in the midst of dense brushwood or heavy jungle, at heights of from 4 to 10 feet from the ground. The nests are broad and saucer-like, nearly 5 inches in diameter, but not much above 2 in height externally; the cavities average about 3.25 in diameter and about 1 in depth. The body of the nest is composed of dead leaves, the sides are more or less felted round with rich brown fibrous, almost wool-like roots; inside the leaves fine twigs and stems of herbaceous plants, all of a uniform brown tint, are wound round and round, apparently to keep the leaves in their places interiorly, and then the cavity is lined with jet-black horsehair-like vegetable fibres. What these are I do not know, but they are precisely like horsehair to look at, only they are comparatively brittle. The contrast of colour between the jet-black lining and the rich brown of the lip of the saucer, which is constant in all the nests, is very striking.

The eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Mandelli, obtained by him in Sikhim at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet in July and the early part of August, possess a very distinctive character. They are broad ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and they are more glossy than the eggs of any other of this family with which I am acquainted. The ground-colour is pink. The markings consist of curious hair-line scratches, clouded blotches, and irregular spots—in some eggs all very hazy and ill-defined, in others more scratchy and sharp. The great majority of the markings seem to be gathered together into an irregular and imperfect zone round the large end. In colour the markings vary from a deep brownish maroon to a dull brickdust-red, sometimes they are slightly more purplish. In some eggs a few faint clouds or small spots of subsurface-looking dusky purple may be noticed mingled with the rest of the markings.

These eggs are totally unlike the eggs of Criniger ictericus. I have never had an opportunity of verifying the eggs myself, but as three different nests have now been taken, all containing precisely similar eggs, I believe there can be no doubt of their authenticity.

269. Hypsipetes psaroides, Vigors. The Himalayan Black Bulbul.

Hypsipetes psaroides (Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind ii, p. 77; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 444.

The Himalayan Black Bulbul breeds throughout the outer and lower ranges of the Himalayas, at any rate from Bhootan to Afghanistan, at elevations varying from 2000 to 6000 feet.

They lay mostly in May and June, but eggs may occasionally be met with during the latter half of April.

The nest of Hypsipetes psaroides is usually made of rather coarse-bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves, and more or less moss incorporated, and lined with very fine grass-stems and roots of moss. A good deal of spider's web is often used exteriorly to bind the nest together, or attach it more firmly to the fork in which it rests. Its general shape is a moderately deep cup, the cavity measuring some 21/2 inches in diameter by 11/2 inch in depth. The sides, into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, vary from an inch to a couple of inches in thickness. The bottom, loosely put together, is rarely more than from a quarter to half an inch in depth. It appears to be generally placed on the fork of a branch, at a moderate height from the ground.

Four is the normal number of eggs, but I have more than once found three partially incubated eggs in a nest.

From Darjeeling Mr. Gammie remarks:—"A nest of this bird, which I took on the 17th June, at a height of nearly 50 feet from the ground, on one of the topmost branches of a tree, contained three hard-set eggs. This was below Rungbee, at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The nest was a compact, moderately deep cup, composed of very fine twigs and stems, and with a quantity of dead leaves incorporated in the structure, especially towards its lower surface; it had no lining, but the stems used towards the interior of the nest were somewhat finer than the rest. Exteriorly the nest had a diameter of about 4.5 inches, and a height of about 2.5; interiorly a diameter of about 2.5, and a depth of nearly 1.5."

Mr. Hodgson, writing from Nepal, says:—

"May 20th, Jaha Powah.—Two nests on the skirts of the forest in medium-sized trees, placed on the fork of a branch. They are made of moss and dry fern and dry elastic twig-tops, and lined with long elastic needles of Pinus longifolia. They are compact and rather deep, half pensile, that is to say, partly slung between the branches of the fork to which they are attached by bands of vegetable fibres. Each contained four eggs, pinkish-white, thickly spotted with dark sanguine." Another year he wrote:—

"May 9th, in the Valley.—A mature female with nest and eggs. Nest saucer-shaped, the cavity 3.5 wide by 2.5 deep, made of slender twigs and grass-fibres, with no lining. Eggs three, pale pink, blotched all over with sanguine brown."

Writing from Almorah, Mr. Brooks tells us that "the nest and eggs were found by Mr. Horne on the 27th May near Bheem Tal."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall also found a nest in the same place. He says:—"I have only myself found the nest once at Bheem Tal (4000 feet); it was situated in a thicket. The nest of this species is similar in shape but much more substantial than those of the Common Bulbul. The eggs are much larger and more elongated in shape, but the colouring is similar to those of the Bulbul, and in many cases the blotches have a tendency to form a zone near the thick end. The nest I found was taken on the 10th June and contained fresh eggs.

"On the 30th May, 1875, I found a nest of this species at Naini Tal on Ayarpata, over 7000 feet above the sea. I record the circumstance, as their breeding at so great an elevation is exceptional. The nest contained three fresh eggs; it was made of leaves and moss, lined with bents of grass, between two branches but partially resting on a third, in a bush at the outskirts of a forest on a steep bank and about eight feet from the ground."

From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton recorded the following very full and interesting note:—

"They breed during April, May, and June, making a rather neat cup-shaped nest, which is usually placed in the bifurcation of a horizontal branch of some tall tree; the bottom of it is composed of thin dead leaves and dried grasses, and the sides of fine woody stalks of plants, such as those used by the White-cheeked Bulbul, and they are well plastered over externally with spiders' webs; the lining is sometimes of very fine tendrils, at other times of dry grasses, fibrous lichen, and thin shavings of the bark of trees left by the wood-cutters. I have one nest, however, which is externally formed of green moss with a few dry stalks, and the spiders' webs, instead of being plastered all over the outside, are merely used to bind the nest to the small branches among which it is placed. The lining is of bark-shavings, dry grasses, black fibrous lichens, and a few fine seed-stalks of grasses. The internal diameter of the nest is 23/4 inches, and it is 11/2 inches deep. The eggs are usually three in number, of a rosy or purplish white, sprinkled over rather numerously with deep claret or rufescent purple specks and spots. In colours and distribution of spots there is great variation, sometimes the rufous and sometimes the purple spots prevailing; sometimes the spots are mere specks and freckles, sometimes large and forming blotches; in some the spots are wide apart, in others they are nearly, and sometimes in places quite, confluent; while from one nest the eggs were white, with widely dispersed dark purple spots and dull indistinct ones appearing under the shell. In all the spots were more crowded at the larger end."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall remarks:—"Numerous nests of this species were found at Murree, agreeing well with Hutton's description. They breed in May and June, never above 6000 feet."

The eggs are rather long ovals. Typically a good deal pointed towards the small end, and more or less pyriform, but at times nearly perfect ovals. They have little or no gloss. The ground-colour varies from white, very faintly tinged with pink, to a delicate pink, and they are profusely speckled, spotted, blotched, or clouded with various shades of red, brownish red, and purple. The markings vary much in character, extent, and intensity of colour. There seem to be two leading types, with, however, almost every possible intermediate variety of markings. The one is thickly speckled over its whole surface with minute dots of reddish purple, no dot much bigger than the point of a pin, and no portion of the ground-colour exceeding 0.1 in diameter free from spots. In these eggs the specklings are most dense, as a rule, throughout a broad irregular zone surrounding the large end, and this zone is thickly underlaid with irregular ill-defined streaky clouds of dull inky purple. In some eggs of this type, the smaller end is comparatively free from specks. In the other type, the surface of the egg is somewhat sparingly, but boldly, blotched and splashed, first with deep umber, chocolate, or purple-brown, and, secondly, with spots and clouds of faint inky purple, recalling not a little the style of markings of the eggs of Rhynchops albicollis. Then there are eggs partly speckly and partly blotched, some in which the markings are all rich red and where no secondary pale purple clouds are observable, and others again in which all the markings are dull purplish brown. Generally it may be said that the markings have a tendency to form a cap or zone at the large end.

A nest of three eggs recently obtained from Mussoorie were more richly coloured than any I have yet seen, and were decidedly glossy. The ground-colour is a rich rosy pink, boldly, but sparingly, blotched and spotted with deep maroon, underlaid by clouds and spots of pale purple, which appear as if beneath the surface of the shell. In all the eggs the markings are far more numerous at the large end, where in one they form a huge confluent maroon-coloured patch, mottled lighter and darker.

An egg recently obtained in Cashmere on the 20th June was a somewhat elongated oval, more or less compressed towards one end; a delicate glossy white ground with a faint pink tinge; a rich zone of reddish-purple spots and specks round the large end; a few similar markings scattered sparingly over the rest of the surface of the egg, and a multitude of very faint streaks and clouds of very pale inky purple underlying the primary markings.

In length the eggs vary from 0.9 to 1.15, and in breadth from 0.7 to 0.78; but the average of twenty-five eggs measured is 1.03 by 0.75.

271. Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes. The Southern-Indian Black Bulbul.

Hypsipetes neilgherriensis, Jerd.; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 78; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 445. Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes, Jerd. t.c. p. 78.

Mr. Davison tells me that "this species breeds from April to about the middle of June. The nest is generally placed from 12 to 20 feet from the ground, in some dense clump of leaves; favourite sites are the bunches of parasitic plants with which nearly every acacia, and in fact nearly every other tree about Ootacamund, is covered. The nest is composed exteriorly of moss, dry leaves, and roots, lined with roots and fibres: the normal number of eggs is two; they are white with claret-coloured and purplish spots."

A nest of this species taken at Coonoor on the 14th March, 1869, by Mr. Carter, to whom I owe this and many other nests from the Nilghiris, reminds one much of those of the Red-cheeked Bulbuls. A wisp of dry grass and dead leaves, with the dead leaves greatly predominating exteriorly, twisted into a shallow cup, some 41/2 inches in diameter externally, and with a shallow depression tolerably neatly lined with finer grass-stems measuring some 3 inches across and perhaps an inch in depth. The bottom of the nest is almost exclusively composed of dead leaves; while even in the sides, externally, little but these are visible, only a few grass-stems crossing in and out, here and there, sufficiently to keep the leaves in their places.

Mr. Wait remarks, writing from Coonoor:—"Our Black Bulbul breeds from March to June. It builds a cup-shaped nest neatly and firmly made. Outside, the nest is chiefly composed, as a rule, of green moss, grass-stalks, and fibres, while inside it is lined with fine stalks and hair. The cavity is from 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter and about half that depth. Two is certainly the normal number of eggs; indeed, I have never found more."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The Ibis':—"It breeds in lofty trees in the Nilghiris, building a shallow cup-shaped nest, from 20 to 60 feet from the ground. The nest is constructed of the dried stems of the wild forget-me-not, and lined with a moss much resembling black horsehair. The eggs, which are two in number, are pretty thickly spotted with pale lilac and claret on a light pink ground-colour. I found these birds migrating in vast flights, numbering several thousands, in the Bolumputty valley in July. They were flying westwards towards Malabar."

Mr. Darling, Junior, writes:—"I have taken the eggs of this Black Bulbul every year from 1863 to 1870 during March, April, May, and part of June, all over the Nilghiris. The nests were all made of moss, dry leaves, and roots, lined with roots and fibres. I have only once found three eggs (the normal number being two): in this case the eggs are very much smaller than usual, and more blotched with the reddish spots. I have found them at all heights from the ground up to 30 feet, and mostly in rhododendron trees. I found two nests in S. Wynaad, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, both with young, in June 1873."

Mr. C.J.W. Taylor informs us that he procured the nest of this bird with three fresh eggs at Manzeerabad in Mysore on the 7th April.

Colonel Legge tells us that this Bulbul breeds in Ceylon from January till March.

That the Nilghiris bird should lay usually only two eggs, and this seems a well ascertained fact, while our very closely allied Himalayan form lays, as I can personally certify, regularly four, is certainly very strange.

The eggs of this species, sent me from the Nilghiris by Messrs. Carter and Davison, very closely resemble those of H. psaroides from the Himalayas. The eggs are of course of the Bulbul type, but in form are typically much more elongated and conical than the true Bulbuls. The ground-colour varies from white to a delicate pink. The markings consist of different shades of deep red and pale washed-out purple. In some the markings are bold, large, and blotchy, in others minute and speckly; and in both forms there is a tendency to confluence towards the large end, where there is commonly a more or less perfect, but irregular, zone. The eggs though smooth and satiny have commonly little or no gloss, and, considering their size, are very delicate and fragile.

In length they vary from 1.0 to 1.17, and in breadth from 0.7 to 0.8.

275. Hemixus macclellandi (Horsf.). The Rufous-bellied Bulbul.

Hypsipetes mclellandi, Horsf., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 79. Hypsipetes m'clellandii, Horsf., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 447.

The Rufous-bellied Bulbul, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, breeds in the central region of Nepal, and low down nearly to the Terai, from April to June. Its nest is a shallow saucer suspended between a slender horizontal fork, to the twigs of which it is firmly bound like an Oriole's with vegetable fibres and roots. It is composed of roots and dry leaves bound together with fibres, and lined with fine grass or moss-roots. The bird is said to lay four eggs, but these are neither figured nor described.

Dr. Scully writes from Nepal:—"This Bulbul is common throughout the year on the hills round the valley of Nepal, but never tenants the central woods. It is generally found in bushes and bush trees, not in high tree-forest; and is commonly seen in pairs. The breeding-season appears to be May and June. A nest was taken on the 6th June, which contained two fresh eggs. The nest was somewhat oval in shape, measuring 3.35 inches in length and 2.5 across; the egg-cavity was about 1 inch deep in the centre, and the bottom of the nest 1.25 thick. It was attached to a slender fork of a tree, and was composed externally of ferns, dry leaves, roots, grass, and a little moss, bound together with fine black hair-like fibres, which were wound round the prongs of the fork so as regularly to suspend the nest like an Oriole's. There was a regular lining, distinct from the body of the nest, composed of fine long yellowish grass-stems, and a little cobweb was spread here and there over the branches of the fork and the outside of the nest. The eggs are rather long ovals, smaller at one end, and fairly glossy; they measure 1.0 by 0.7, and 0.97 by 0.7. The ground-colour is pure pinkish white, abundantly speckled and finely spotted with reddish purple; the spots closely crowded together at the large end, but not confluent, forming in one egg a broadish zone, and in the other a cap; in the latter egg there are a few faint underlying stains of purplish inky at the large end."

Two eggs sent me by Mr. Mandelli from Darjeeling, said to belong to this species, are elongated ovals, much pointed towards the small end. The shell is fine and fairly glossy; the ground-colour a dull salmon-pink, and they are profusely and minutely freckled, speckled, and streaked (so densely at the large end that the markings there are almost confluent) with dull reddish purple.

The eggs measure 1.06 and 1.11 by 0.67.

277. Alcurus striatus (Bl.). The Striated Green Bulbul.

Alcurus striatus (Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 81.

Mr. Mandelli sent me a nest of this species which was found, he said, on the 8th May about 4 feet from the ground amongst the foliage of a kind of prickly bamboo growing out of the crevices of a patch of large stones near Lebong (elevation 5000 feet), and contained two eggs nearly ready to hatch. The nest is a shallow cup, about 3.75 inches in diameter and 1.5 in height externally, composed entirely of fine brown fibrous roots, a little bound together outside with wool and the silk of cocoons and with two or three little bits of moss stuck about it, and sparingly lined with hair-like grass. It is altogether a light brown nest, no dark material being used in it at all. The cavity is 2.75 inches in diameter and about 1 deep.



278. Molpastes haemorrhous (Gm.). The Madras Red-vented Bulbul.

Pycnonotus haemorrhous (Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 94. Molpastes pusillus (Bl.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 462.

The Madras Red-vented Bulbul, which by the way extends northwards throughout the Central Provinces, Chota-Nagpoor, Rajpootana (the eastern portions), the plains of the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, Behar, and Western Bengal, breeds in the plains country chiefly in June and July, although a few eggs may also be found in April, May, and August. In the Nilghiris the breeding-season is from February to April, both months included.

Elsewhere I have recorded the following notes on the nidification of this species in the neighbourhood of Bareilly:—

"Close to the tank is a thick clump of sal-trees (Shorea robusta), the great building-timber of Northern India, whose natural home is in that vast sub-Himalayan belt of forest which passes only 30 miles to the north of Bareilly.

"In one of these a Common Madras Bulbul had made its home. The nest was compact and rather massive, built in a fork, on and round a small twig. Externally it was composed of the stems (with the leaves and flowers still on them) of a tiny groundsel-like (Senecio) asteraceous plant, amongst which were mingled a number of quite dead and skeleton leaves and a few blades of dry grass: inside, rather coarse grass was tightly woven into a lining for the cavity, which was deep, being about 2 inches in depth by 3 inches in diameter.

"This is the common type of nest; but half an hour later, and scarcely 100 yards further on, we took another nest of this same species. This one was built in a mango-tree, towards the extremity of one of the branches, where it divided into four upright twigs, between which the Bulbul had firmly planted his dwelling. Externally it was as usual chiefly composed of the withered stems of the little asteraceous plant, interwoven with a few jhow-shoots (Tamarix dioica) and a little tow-like fibre of the putsan (Hibiscus cannabinus), while a good deal of cobweb was applied externally here and there. The interior was lined with excessively fine stems of some herbaceous exogenous plant, and there did not appear to be a single dead leaf or a single particle of grass in the whole nest.

"The eggs, however, in both nests, three in each, closely resembled each other, being of a delicate pink ground, with reddish-brown and purplish-grey spots and blotches nearly equally distributed over the whole surface of the egg, the reddish brown in places becoming almost a maroon-red. Two eggs, however, that we took out of a nest, similar to the first in structure but situated like the second in a mango-tree, were of a somewhat different character and very different in tint. The ground was dingy reddish pink, and the whole of the egg was thickly mottled all over with very deep blood-red, the mottlings being so thick at the large end as to form an almost perfectly confluent cap. Altogether the colouring of these two eggs reminded one of richly coloured types of Neophron's eggs. Some of the Bulbuls' eggs that we have taken earlier in the season were much feebler coloured than any of those obtained to-day, and presented a very different appearance, with a pinkish-white ground, and only moderately thickly but very uniformly speckled all over with small spots of light purplish grey, light reddish brown, and very dark brown. These eggs scarcely seem to belong to the same bird as the boldly blotched and richly-mottled specimens that we have taken to-day."

Writing from the neighbourhood of Delhi, Mr. F.R. Blewitt says: "This Bulbul breeds from the middle of May to about the middle of August. Its selection of a tree for its nest is arbitrary, as I have found the latter on almost every variety of bush and tree. The nest is neatly cup-shaped, generally fragile in structure, though I have seen many a nest strong and compact. The outer diameter of the nest varies from 3 to nearly 4 inches, and the inner diameter from 2 to almost 3 inches.

"The chief material of the nest is, on the outside, coarse grass, with fine khus or fine grass for the lining. Very frequently horsehair is likewise used for lining the interior of the cavity.

"I have seen some nests bound round on the outside with hemp, other kinds of vegetable fibres, and even spider's web.

"The regular number of the eggs is four."

Mr. W. Theobald found the present species breeding in Monghyr in the fourth week of June.

Mr. Nunn remarks:—"I took a nest of this species at Hoshungabad on 26th June, 1868, which contained four eggs; it was placed in a lime-tree, was composed of very small twigs, and lined inside with fine grass-roots; it was cup-shaped, and measured internally 2.25 inches in breadth by 1.75 in depth."

The late Mr. A. Anderson wrote from Futtehgurh:—"On the 30th April last (1874) I took a very beautifully and curiously constructed nest of our Common Bulbul. In shape and size it resembled the ordinary nest, but the curious part of it was that the upper portion of the nest for an inch all round was composed entirely of green twigs of the neem tree on which it was built, and the under surface (below) was felted with fresh blossoms belonging to the same tree. The green twigs had evidently been broken off by the birds, but the flowers were picked up from off the ground, where they were lying thick."

Colonel Butler says:—"The Madras Red-vented Bulbul breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa all through the hot weather and in the monsoon. I found a nest at Mount Aboo in a garden on the 15th of April in the middle of a pot of sweet peas, containing three fresh eggs. I found other nests in Deesa, from the 11th May to 20th August, each containing three eggs.

"The nest is usually built of dry grass-stems, lined with fine roots and a few horsehairs neatly woven together. One nest I found was in a very remarkable situation, viz. inside an uninhabited bungalow upon the top of a door leading out of a sitting-room; the door was open and the bolt at the top had been forced back, and it was between the top of the door and the top of the bolt that the nest rested. The old bird entered the building by passing first of all through the lattice-work of the verandah, and then through a broken window-pane into the room where the nest was built."

Mr. R.M. Adam informs us that this bird breeds at Sambhur during June and July.

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, speaking of Rajputana in general, states that this Bulbul breeds from April to September. Nests are occasionally found even earlier than this, but they are exceptions to the general rule.

Major C.T. Bingham writes:—"The first nest I have a note of taking was at Allahabad on the 2nd April. At Delhi it breeds from the end of April to the end of July; I have, however, found most nests in May. All have been firmly made little cups of slender twigs, sometimes dry stems of some herbaceous plant, and lined with fine grass-roots. Five is the usual number of eggs laid."

Mr. G.W. Vidal, writing of the South Konkan, says:—"Abundant everywhere. Breeds in April, and again in September."

Dr. Jerdon, whose experience of this species had been gained mainly in Madras, states that "it breeds from June to September, according to the locality. The nest is rather neat, cup-shaped, made of roots and grass, lined with hair, fibres, and spiders' webs[A], placed at no great height in a shrub or hedge. The eggs are pale pinkish, with spots of darker lake-red, most crowded at the thick end. Burgess describes them as a rich madder colour, spotted and blotched with grey and madder-brown: Layard as pale cream, with darker markings."

[Footnote A: This is some lapsus pennae. Spiders' webs are sometimes used exteriorly never as a lining.]

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:—"The Common Bulbul lays at Khandalla in May, but I never found a nest in the plains till after the rains had set in. I have found one nest in Bombay, one in Poona, and two in Berar, as late as October; and my brother found a nest in Berar in September, with three eggs which were duly hatched."

Writing from the Nilghiris, Miss Cockburn says that "the nests, which in shape closely resemble those of the Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul, are composed chiefly of grass. The eggs are three in number, and may occasionally be found in any month of the year, though most plentiful during February, March, and April."

In shape the eggs are typically rather long ovals, slightly compressed or pointed towards the small end. Some are a good deal pointed and elongated; a few are tolerably perfect broad ovals, and abnormal shapes are not very uncommon. The ground is universally pinkish or reddish white (in old eggs which have been kept a long time a sort of dull French white), of which more or less is seen according to the extent of the markings. These markings take almost every conceivable form, defined and undefined—specks, spots, blotches, streaks, smudges, and clouds; their combinations are as varied as their colours, which embrace every shade of red, brownish, and purplish red. As a rule, besides the primary markings, feeble secondary markings of pale inky purple are exhibited, often only perceptible when the egg is closely examined, sometimes so numerous as to give the ground-colour of the egg a universal purple tint. In about half the eggs there is a tendency to exhibit, more or less, an irregular zone or cap at the large end, but solitary eggs occur in which there is a cap at the small end. Three pretty well marked types may be separately described. First, an egg thickly mottled and streaked all over with deep blood-red, which is entirely confluent over one third of the surface, namely at the large end, and leaves less than a third of the ground-colour visible as a paler mottling over the rest of the surface. Then there is another type with a very delicate pure pink ground, and with a few large, bold, deep red blotches, chiefly at the large end, where they are intermingled with a few small pale inky-purple clouds, and with only a few spots and specks of the former colour scattered over the rest of the surface. Lastly, there is a pale dingy pink ground, speckled almost uniformly, but only moderately thickly, over the whole surface, with minute specks and spots of blood-red and pale inky purple.

The dimensions are excessively variable. In length the eggs vary from 0.7 to 1.02, and in breadth from 0.6 to 0.75, but the average of sixty eggs measured was 0.89 by 0.65.

279. Molpastes burmanicus (Sharpe). The Burmese Red-vented Bulbul.

The Burmese Red-vented Bulbul occurs from Manipur down to Rangoon. Writing from Upper Pegu, Mr. Oates says:—"On the 29th July I found a nest in the extremity of a bamboo-frond forming one of a large clump near my house at Boulay. It was circular, the internal diameter about 2.5 and the external 4 inches; the depth inside 1.5, and the total height 2.5. Foundation of dead leaves, the bulk of the nest coarse grass and small roots, and the interior of much finer grass carefully curved to shape. Altogether the nest was a very pretty structure. Two eggs measured 0.9 by 0.62 and 0.65. Another nest found at the same time was placed in a small shrub about 4 feet from the ground. It was very similar in construction and size to the above and contained three eggs."

Subsequently writing from Lower Pegu, he says:—"Breeds abundantly from May to September, and has no particular preference for any one month."

281. Molpastes atricapillus (Vieill.). The Chinese Red-vented Bulbul.

Molpastes atricapillus (V.), Hume, cat. no. 462 ter.

Mr. J. Darling, Jr., found a nest of the Chinese Red-vented Bulbul in Tenasserim with three fresh eggs on the 16th March. It was built in a bush little more than a foot above the ground on a hill-side.

Except that they seem to run smaller, these eggs are not distinguishable from those of the other species of this genus, and there is really nothing to add to the description already given of the eggs of M. Haemorrhous. The three eggs measured 0.79 by 0.6.

282. Molpastes bengalensis (Blyth). The Bengal Red-vented Bulbul.

Pycnonotus pygaeus (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 93. Molpastes pygmaeus (Hodgs.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 461.

I have taken many nests of the Bengal Red-vented Bulbul in many localities, and while the birds vary, getting less typical as you go westwards, the nests are all pretty much the same, though the eastern birds go in rather more for dead leaves than the western. Sikhim birds are very typical, and I will therefore confine myself to quoting a note I made there.

Several nests taken at Darjeeling in June, at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet, each contained three or four, more or less incubated, eggs. The nests were mostly very compact and rather deep cups about 31/2 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height, very firmly woven of moss and grass-roots, but with a certain quantity of dry and dead leaves, and here and there a little cobweb worked into the outer surface. Sometimes a little fine grass was used as a lining; but generally there was no lining, only the roots that were used in finishing off the interior of the nests were rather finer than those employed elsewhere. The egg-cavity is very large for the size of the nest, the sides, though very firm and compact, being scarcely above half an inch in thickness. The nests differ very much in appearance, owing to the fact that in some all the roots used are black, in others pale brown.

Mr. Gammie says:—"I took two or three nests of this species in the latter half of May at Mongpho, in Sikhim, at elevations of 3500 feet or thereabouts. They contained three eggs each, hard-set. The nests were in trees, at a moderate height, and rather flimsy structures; shallow caps, composed externally of fine twigs and vegetable fibre, and generally some dead leaves intermingled, especially towards their basal portions, and lined with the fine hair-like stem portion of the flowering tops of grass. One nest measured internally 21/2 inches in diameter by nearly 11/2 inch in depth; externally it was nearly 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height. The eggs were of the usual type."

Mr. J.R. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, Eastern Bengal, says:—"Excessively common and a permanent resident; commits great havoc in gardens amongst tomatoes and chillies, the red colour of which seems to attract them. Builds its nest in very exposed places and at all heights from two to thirty feet off the ground, in bushes and trees. One nest I saw containing two young ones, on the 28th June, was built on a small date-tree which stood on the side of a road along which people were passing all day, and within six feet of them. The nest was only five feet from the ground, but the materials of which it was made and the colour of the bird assimilated so perfectly with the bark of the tree that detection was difficult. I have found the nests with eggs from the 3rd of April to the end of June; dead leaves and cobwebs were incorporated with the twigs and grasses in all nests which I have seen in Dacca. The natives keep these birds for fighting purposes; large sums are lost at times on these combats."

Writing from Nepal, Dr. Scully remarks:—"It breeds in May and June in the Residency grounds, the nests being very commonly placed in small pine-trees (Pinus longifolia). Three is the usual number of eggs found, and a clutch taken on the 29th May measured in length from 0.85 to 0.93, and in breadth from 0.64 to 0.65."

I have fully described the leading types of the eggs of these Bulbuls under Molpastes haemorrhous. I shall therefore only here say that the eggs of this species in shape and colour exactly resemble those of its congener, but that as a body they are larger in size; every variety observable in the eggs of the one is, as far as I know, to be met with amongst those of the other. Taking only the eggs of typical birds from Lower Bengal and Sikhim, they vary from 0.88 to 1.05 in length and from 0.67 to 0.75 in breadth.

283. Molpastes intermedius (A. Hay). The Punjab Red-vented Bulbul.

All my specimens from the Salt Range belong to this species, and not to M. bengalensis, so that Mr. W. Theobald's remarks in regard to the Common Bulbul's nidification about Pind Dadan Khan and the Salt Range must refer to this species. He says: "Lay in May, June, and July; eggs, four: shape, blunt ovato-pyriform; size, 0.87 by 0.62; colour, deep pink, blotched with deep claret-red; nest, a neat cup of vegetable fibres in bushes."

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:—"This Bulbul breds in large numbers on the lower hills."

From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton remarked:—"This is more properly a Dhoon species, as although it does ascend the hills, it is represented there to a great extent by M. leucogenys. It breeds in April, May, and June, constructing its nest in some thick bush. On the 12th May one nest contained three eggs of a rosy-white, thickly irrorated and blotched with purple or deep claret colour, and at the larger end confluently stained with dull purple, appearing as if beneath the shell. The nest is small and cup-shaped, composed of fine roots, dry grasses, flower-stalks chiefly of forget-me-not, and a few dead leaves occasionally interwoven; in some the outside is also smeared over here and there with cobwebs and silky seed-down; the lining is usually of very fine roots. Some nests have four eggs, which are liable to great variation both in the intensity of colouring and in the size and number of spots."

284. Molpastes leucogenys (Gr.). The White-cheeked Bulbul.

Otocompsa leucogenys (Gray), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 90; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 458.

The White-cheeked Bulbul breeds throughout the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhootan, from April to July, and at all heights from 3000 to 7000 feet. The nest is a loose, slender fabric, externally composed of fine stems of some herbaceous plant and a few blades of grass, and internally lined with very fine hair-like grass. The nests may measure externally, at most, 4 inches in diameter; but the egg-cavity, which is in proportion very large and deep, is fully 21/4 inches across by 13/4 inch deep. As I before said, the nest is usually very slightly and loosely put together, so that it is difficult to remove it without injury; but sometimes they are more substantial, and occasionally the cup is much shallower and wider than I have above described. Four is the full complement of eggs.

Captain Unwin says:—"I found a nest containing three fresh eggs near the village of Jaskote, in the Agrore Valley, on the 24th April, 1870. The nest was placed about 5 feet from the ground in a small wild ber-tree in a water-course. On the 7th May I found another nest placed in a small thick cheer-tree in the same valley, which contained four eggs."

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall tells us that this species "breeds in the valleys, at about 4000 or 5000 feet up, in the end of June. Lays four eggs with a white ground, very thickly blotched with claret-red; nest roughly made of grass and roots, in low bushes."

About Simla and the valleys of the Sutlej and Beas I have found it common, and my experience of its nidification in these localities has been above recorded.

From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton wrote that it is "common in the Dhoon throughout the year, and in the hills during the summer. It breeds in April and May. The nest is neat and cup-shaped, placed in the forks of bushes or pollard trees, and is composed externally of the dried stalks of forget-me-not, lined with fine grass-stalks. Eggs three or four, rosy or faint purplish white, thickly sprinkled with specks and spots of darker rufescent purple or claret colour. Sometimes the outside of the nest is composed of fine dried stalks of woody plants, whose roughness causes them to adhere together."

Mr. W.E. Brooks remarks:—"I found this bird common at Almorah, and procured several nests. They were placed in a bush or small tree, and were slightly composed of fine grass, roots, and fibres: eggs three; ground-colour purplish white, speckled all over, most densely at the larger end, with spots and blotches of purple-brown and purplish grey: laying in Kumaon from the beginning of May to June."

Dr. Scully states that in Nepal this Bulbul "breeds in May and June, principally at elevations of from 5000 to 6000 feet. Its nests were secured on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 14th, and 28th June; the usual number of eggs laid seems to be three."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:—"This species breeds both at Naini Tal (7000 feet) and at Bheem Tal (4000 feet). In Kumaon the eggs seem to be laid in the first half of June; the earliest date I have taken them was a single fresh egg on the 23rd May, and the latest, four eggs on the 25th Jane: the nest is seldom more than six feet from the ground, and is placed either in a thick bush or in the outer twigs of a low bough of a tree."

The eggs are of the regular Bulbul type, as exemplified in those of Molpastes haemorrhous, and vary much in colour, size, and shape. Typically they are rather a long oval, somewhat pointed at one end, have a pinkish or reddish-white ground with little or no gloss, and are thickly speckled, freckled, streaked, or blotched, as the case may be, with blood-, brownish-, or purplish-red, &c., and here and there, chiefly towards the large end, exhibit, besides these primary markings, tiny underlying spots and clouds of pale inky purple. Some eggs have a pretty well-marked zone or irregular cap at the large end, but this is not very common. In size they average somewhat larger than those of Molpastes leucotis and Otocompsa emeria, both of which they closely resemble; but they are smaller and as a body less richly coloured than those of O. fuscicaudata. They vary in length from 0.82 to 0.95, and from 0.58 to 0.7 in breadth; but the average of fifty-seven specimens measured was 0.88 by 0.65.

285. Molpastes leucotis (Gould). The White-eared Bulbul.

Otocompsa leucotis (Gould), Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 91; Hume. Rough Draft N. & E. no. 459.

The White-eared Bulbul is, so far as my experience goes, entirely a Western Indian form. In the cold weather it may be met with at Agra, Cawnpoor, and even Jhansi, Saugor, and Hoshungabad; but during the summer months I only know of its occurring in Cutch, Katywar, Sindh, Rajpootana, and the Punjab. In all these localities it breeds, laying for the most part in July and August in the Punjab, but somewhat earlier in Sindh. I have, even in Rajpootana, seen eggs towards the end of May, but this is the exception.

The nests are usually in dense and thorny bushes—acacias, catechu, and jhand (Prosopis spicigera)—and are placed at heights of from 4 to 6 feet from the ground. The Customs hedge is a great place for their nests, but I have noticed that they are partial to bushes in the immediate neighbourhood of water; and at Hansie, whence he sent me many nests and eggs, Mr. W. Blewitt always found them either in the fort ditch or along the banks of the canal.

The nests, which very much resemble those of Molpastes haemorrhous, are usually composed of very fine dry twigs of some herbaceous plant, intermingled with vegetable fibre resembling tow, and scantily lined with very fine grass-roots. They are rather slender structures, shallow cups measuring internally from 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter, and a little more than 1 inch in depth. Three was the largest number of eggs I ever found in any nest, and several sets were fully incubated.

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note on the nidification of this bird in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt Range:—"Lay in May, June, and July: eggs four; shape ovato pyriform; size 0.91 inch by 0.64 inch: colour white, much dotted with claret-red; nest a neat cup of vegetable fibres in bushes,"

Mr. S. Doig informs us that this bird breeds on the Eastern Narra in Sind from May to August.

Colonel Butler writes:—"I found a nest of the White-eared Bulbul at Deesa on the 5th August containing three fresh eggs. It was placed in the fork of a low Beer tree about 4 feet from the ground, and in structure closely resembled the nest of M. haemorrhous.

"On the 17th August I found another nest built by the same pair of birds in an exactly similar situation, about 60 yards from the first nest, containing three more fresh eggs."

The eggs, which I need not here describe in detail, are precisely similar to, but as a body slightly smaller than, those of Molpastes leucogenys. The only point of difference that I seem to notice, and this might disappear with a larger series before me, is that there is a rather greater tendency in the eggs of this species to exhibit a zone or cap. In length they vary from 0.75 to 0.9, and in breadth from 0.52 to 0.68; but the average of twenty-three eggs measured was 0.83 barely, by 0.64.

288. Otocompsa emeria(Linn.). The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul.

Otocompsa jocosa (L.), Jerd. B. Ind ii, p, 92 (part). Otocompsa emeria (Shaw), Hume, Rough Draft N.& E. no. 460.

The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul breeds from March to the end of May. Its nest is placed, according to my experience in Lower Bengal, in any thick bush, clump of grass, or knot of creepers; sometimes in the immediate proximity of native villages or in the gardens of Europeans, and sometimes quite away in the jungle. It is a typical Bulbul nest, a broad shallow saucer, compactly put together with twigs of herbaceous plants, amongst which, especially towards the base, a few dry leaves are incorporated, and lined with roots or fine grass. Exteriorly a little cobweb is wound on to keep twigs and leaves firm and in their places. All the nests that I have seen were tolerably near the ground, at heights ranging from 3 to 5 feet.

Three is the normal number of the eggs, but only the other day we obtained one containing four.

Mr. R.M. Adam says:—"This bird is very common in Oudh. It affects gardens and low scrub-jungle, flying about with a jerky flight from bush to bush. They are very fond of the fruit of the mangot-tree (F. indica), and may be seen in great numbers about these trees when the fruit is ripe. Their note is something like that of the common Bulbul, but livelier and louder. I have seen a number of this year's young birds well grown, but as yet without the red cheek-tuft.

"They build in clamps of moong-grass about 2 to 3 feet from the ground. One I found in the tendrils of a creeper about 20 feet from the ground. The nest is well fixed in the grass and fastened to it by the intertwining of some of the fibres of which it is composed. It is cup-shaped, and measures 4 inches in diameter, about 0.75 in thickness, with an egg-cavity 2.75 in diameter and 1.5 deep.

"The nest is formed of roots, twigs, and grass loosely worked together, and over the exterior, with the view of binding the mass together, dried or skeleton leaves, pieces of cloth, broad pieces of grass, and plaintain-bark are fastened carelessly on by means of cobwebs and the silk from cocoons. The egg-cavity is lined with fine roots.

"I never have found more than three eggs; on several occasions only two."

I do not think it possible to separate the Andaman bird. Of its nidification in those islands Mr. Davison says:—"I found a nest of this species in April near Port Blair, in a low mangrove-bush growing quite at the edge of the water; it (the nest) was cup-shaped and composed of roots, dried leaves, and small pieces of bark, lined with fine roots and cocoanut fibres; it contained three eggs, with a pinkish-white ground thickly mottled and blotched with purplish red, the spots coalescing at the thicker end to form a zone."

Mr. J.H. Cripps writes from Eastern Bengal:—"Very common and a permanent resident; it freely enters gardens and orchards. In my garden there was a kamiinee-tree (Murraya exotica), in which I found a nest of this species on the 27th March in course of construction; and on looking at it on the 12th April found two young that had just been hatched. Cane-brakes are favourite places for them to nest in. On the 6th May I found a nest in one of these about 4 feet off the ground, and containing three partly incubated eggs. This species does not, as a rule, build in such exposed situations as M. bengalensis; it eats the fruit of jungly trees, Ficis, &c., as well as insects."

On the breeding of this Bulbul in Pegu Mr. Gates remarks:—"This bird breeds as early as February, on the 27th of which month I procured a nest with two eggs nearly hatched. It stops nesting, I think, at the beginning of the rains."

Mr. W. Davison informs us that he "took a nest of this bird at Bankasoon, in Southern Tenasserim, on the 15th March. It was placed in a small bush growing in an old garden about 4 feet above the ground. The nest was of the usual type, a compactly-woven cup, composed externally of dry twigs, leaves, &c., the egg-cavity lined with fibres. It contained three nearly fresh eggs."

The eggs in size, colour, and shape closely resemble those of Molpastes leucotis. All that I have said in regard to these latter is applicable to those of the present species, and, so far as varieties of coloration go, the description of the eggs of Molpastes leucogenys is equally applicable to those of the present species. If any distinction can be drawn, it is that, as a body, bold blotches of rich red and pale purple are more commonly exhibited in the eggs of this species than in those of either of the preceding ones.

In length the eggs vary from 0.8 to 0.9, and in breadth from 0.85 to 0.7, but the average of twenty-seven eggs was 0.83 nearly, by 0.63 barely.

289. Otocompsa fuscicaudata, Gould. The Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul.

Otocompsa fuscicaudata, Gould, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 400 bis.

The Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul is found throughout the more hilly and more or less elevated tracts of the peninsula, from Cape Comorin northwards as far as Mount Aboo on the west, and the Eastern Ghats, above Nellore, on the east. How far northwards it extends in the centre of the peninsula I am not certain, but I have seen a specimen from the Satpooras.

They breed any time from the beginning of February to the end of May. Their nests are usually placed at no great height from the ground (say at from 2 to 6 feet) in some thick bush.

The nests of this species that I procured at Mount Aboo, and which have been sent me by Mr. Carter both from Coonoor and Salem, and by other friends from other parts of the Nilghiris, where the bird is excessively common, very much resemble those of O. emeria, but they are somewhat neater and more substantial in structure. They differ a good deal in size and shape, as the nests of Bulbuls are wont to do. Some are rather broad and shallow, with egg-cavities measuring 31/4 inches across, and perhaps 1 inch in depth; while others are deeper and more cup-shaped, the cavity measuring only 21/2 inches across and fully 11/2 inch in depth. They are composed in some cases almost wholly of grass-roots, in others of very fine twigs of the furash (Tamarix furas) in others again of rather fine grass, and all have a quantity of dead leaves or dry ferns worked into the bottom, and all are lined with either very fine grass or very fine grass-roots. The external diameter averages about 41/2 inches, but some stand fully 3 inches high, while others are not above 2 inches in height. As might be expected, the White-cheeked and White-eared and the two Red-whiskered Bulbuls' types of architecture differ considerably; inter se, the nests of M. leucotis and M. leucogenys differ just sufficiently to render it generally possible to separate them, and the same may be said of the nests of O. emeria and O. fuscicaudata. But there is a very wide difference between the nests of the two former and the two latter species, so that it would be scarcely possible to mistake a nest belonging to the one group for that of the other. The incorporation of a quantity of dead leaves in the body of the nests, reminding one much, of those of the English Nightingale, is characteristic of the Red-whiskered Bulbul, and is scarcely to be met with in those of the White-cheeked or White-eared ones.

Mr. H.R.P. Carter says:—"At Coonoor on the Nilghiris I have found the nests from the 13th March to the 22nd April, but I believe they commence laying in February. They are generally placed in coffee-bushes and low shrubs, as a rule in a fork, but I have frequently found them suspended between the twigs of a bush which had no fork. I have also found the nest of this bird in the thatch of the eaves of a deserted bungalow, and in tufts of grass on the edge of a cutting overhanging the public road.

"The nest is cup-shaped, rather loosely constructed outside, but closely and neatly finished inside. The outside is nearly always fern-leaves at the bottom, coarse grass and fibres above, and lined inside either with fine fibres or fine grass.

"I have never found more than two eggs, and I have taken great numbers of nests; but I am told that three in a nest is not uncommon."

Writing from Kotagherry, Miss Cockburn says:—"Our Red-whiskered Bulbul builds a cup-shaped nest in any thick bush. The foundation is generally laid with pieces of dry leaves and fern, after which small sticks are added, and the whole neatly finished with a lining of fine grass. They lay two (sometimes three) very prettily spotted eggs of different shades of red and white, which are found in February, March, and April."

Mr. Wait remarks:—"This bird breeds at Coonoor from February to June. It builds usually in isolated bushes and shrubs, in gardens and open jungle. The nest is cup-shaped, loosely but strongly built of grass-bents, rooty fibres, and thin stalks, and is lined with finer grass-stems and roots. I think the internal diameter averages about 21/2 inches, and about an inch in depth; but they vary a good deal in size. They lay two or three eggs, rarely four; and the eggs vary a good deal in shape and size, being sometimes very round and sometimes comparatively long ovals. The birds swarm on oar coffee estates, and breed freely in the coffee-bushes."

Dr. Jerdon says:—"I have frequently had its nest and eggs brought me on the Nilghiris. The nest was very neatly made, deep, cup-shaped, of moss, lichens, and small roots, lined with hair and down. The eggs are barely distinguishable from those of the next bird (M. bengalensis), being reddish white with spots of purplish or lake-red all over, larger at the thick end."

But Dr. Jerdon rarely took nests with his own hand, and in this case clearly wrong nests must have been brought to him.

From Trevandrum Mr. F. Bourdillon says:—"It lays three or four eggs of a pale pink colour, with purple spots, in a nest of roots, lined with finer roots and interwoven with the leaves of a jungle-shrub gathered green. The nest, 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep, is generally situated in a bush 4 to 5 feet from the ground."

Mr. J. Davidson remarks:—"This bird simply swarms along the Western Ghats from Mahabuleshwur down the Koina and Werna valleys, and seems to have a very extended breeding-time. Last year (1873) I took its nests in March and May on several occasions, and this year I found three nests in March and April in the Werna valley; and the Hill people, who seem intelligent and fairly trustworthy, stated that this species breeds there throughout the Rains, a season when, owing to the tremendous rainfall, no European can remain. If this be true they must breed at least twice a year. All the nests I saw were placed in bushes from 2 to 4 feet high, some of them most carefully concealed amongst thorns. Out of, I think, nine nests, all taken by myself personally, I never found more than two eggs in any; and on two occasions last year I obtained single eggs nearly fully incubated."

Messrs Davidson and Wenden, writing of the Deccan, remark:—"Commonish in wooded localities. D. took several nests in the Satara Hills in March and the two following months."

Captain Butler writes:—"The Red-whiskered Bulbul is common at Mount Aboo and breeds in March, April, and May. The nest is usually placed in low bushes from 4 to 8 feet from the ground, and is a neat cup-shaped structure composed externally of fibrous roots and dry grass-stems, and lined with fine grass, horsehair, &c. Round the edge and woven into the outside I have generally found small spiders' nests looking like lumps of wool. The eggs, usually two but sometimes three in number, are of a pinkish-white colour, covered all over with spots and blotches and streaks of purplish or lake-red, forming a dense confluent cap at the large end. A nest I examined on the 24th April contained two nestlings almost ready to fly.

"On the 3rd May, 1875, I took a nest in a low carinda bush, containing two fresh eggs."

Mr. C.J.W. Taylor, writing from Manzeerabad, Mysore, says:—"Most abundant in the wooded district. Common everywhere. Eggs taken March and April. On the 5th July, 1883, I procured a, nest of this species with three pure white eggs. I found it in a coffee-bush the day before leaving, so snared parent bird to make sure it was O. fuscicaudata, or otherwise should have left a couple of the eggs to see if young would turn out true to parents."

Captain Horace Terry states that on the Pulney hills this species is "a most common bird, found wherever there are bushes. In the small bushes along the banks of the streams is a very favourite place. I found several nests with usually two, but sometimes three eggs."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken tells us:—"I never saw this bird in the plains, but it is, perhaps without exception, the commonest bird at Matheran, Khandalla, and other hill-stations in the Bombay Presidency. I have found the nests, always with eggs in May, placed from four to seven feet from the ground, and often in the most exposed situations. It is not unusual to find only two eggs in a nest. The bird is not in the least shy, and sets up no clatter, like the Common Bulbul, when its nest is disturbed."

Finally, Mr. J. Darling, Junior, remarks:—"I really wonder if anyone down south does not know the Red-whiskered Bulbul and its nest. On the Nilghiris and in the Wynaad I can safely say it is the commonest nest to be met with, built in all sorts of places, sometimes high up. They generally lay two, but very often three, eggs. In a friend's bungalow in the Wynaad there were three nests built on the wall-plate of the verandah and two eggs laid in each nest. The young were safely hatched.

"This year the nests have been rebuilt and contain eggs. As I am writing, there are two pairs building in a rose-bush about 3 yards from me. They breed from 15th February to 15th May."

The numerous eggs of this species that I possess, though truly Bulbul-like in character, all belong to one single type of that form. Almost all have a dull pinkish or reddish-white ground, very thickly freckled, mottled, and streaked all over with a rich red; in most blood-red, in others brick-red, underneath which, when closely looked into, a small number of pale inky-purple spots are visible. In half the number of eggs the markings are much densest at the large end: these eggs are one and all more brightly and intensely coloured than any of those that I possess of M. leucotis, M. leucogenys, and O. emeria; they are, moreover, larger than any of these.

In length they vary from 0.82 to 0.97, and in breadth from 0.63 to 0.71; but the average of thirty-six eggs measured was 0.9 by 0.66.

290. Otocompsa flaviventris (Tick.). The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul.

Rubigula flaviventris (Tick.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 88. Pycnonotus flaviventris (Tick.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 456.

The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul is another very common species of which I have as yet seen very few eggs. The first notice of its nidification I am acquainted with is contained in the following brief note by Captain Bulger, which appeared in 'The Ibis.' He says:—"I obtained several specimens, chiefly from the vicinity of the Great Rungeet River. From a thicket on the bank, near the cane-bridge, a nest was brought to me on the 16th May, of the ordinary cup-shape, made of fibres and leaves, and containing three eggs, which my shikaree said belonged to this species. The eggs were of a dull pinkish hue, very thickly marked with small specks and blotches of brownish crimson."

Major C.T. Bingham, writing of this Bulbul in Tenasserim, says:—"Common enough in the Thoungyeen forests, affecting chiefly the neighbourhood of villages and clearings. The following is a note of finding a nest and eggs I recorded in 1878:—On the 14th April I happened to be putting up for the day in one of the abandoned Karen houses of the old village of Podeesakai at the foot of the Warmailoo toung, a spur from the east watershed range of the Meplay river. Having to wait for guides, I had nothing particular to do that day, a very rare event in my forest work; I devoted it to a fruitless search for bears. I had returned tired and rather dispirited, and was moving about among the ruined houses, between and among which a lot of jungle was already springing up, when, just as I passed a low bush about 3 feet high, out went one of the above-mentioned birds; of course the bush contained a nest, a remarkably neat cup-shaped affair, below and outside of fine twigs, then a layer of roots, above which was a lining of the stems of the flower of the 'theckay' grass. It contained three eggs on the point of hatching, out of which I was only able to save one. It is one of the loveliest eggs I have seen; in colour I can liken it only to a peculiar pink granite that is so common at home in Ireland. Its ground-colour I should say was white, but it is so thickly spotted with pink and claret that it is hard to describe. It measured 0.85 x 0.61 inch."

Captain Wardlaw Ramsay writes in 'The Ibis':—"I found a nest containing two eggs in April at the foot of the Karen hills in Burma."

I have seen too few eggs of this species to say much about them. What I have seen were rather elongated ovals pretty markedly pointed towards the small end. The shell fine, but with only a slight gloss; the ground a pinky creamy white, everywhere very finely freckled over with red, varying from brownish to maroon, and again still more thickly with pale purple or purplish grey, this latter colour being almost confluent over a broad zone round the large end.

292. Spizixus canifrons, Blyth. The Finch-billed Bulbul.

Spizixus canifrons, Bl., Hume, cat. no. 453 bis.

Colonel Godwin-Austen says:—"Spizixus canifrons breeds in the neighbourhood of Shillong, in May. Young birds are seen in June."[A]

[Footnote A: TRACHYCOMUS OCHROCEPHALUS (Gm.). The Yellow-crowned Bulbul.

Trachycomus ochrocephalus (Gm.), Hume, cat. no. 449 bis.

As this bird occurs in Tenasserim, the following description of the nest and eggs found a short distance outside our limits will prove interesting.

Mr. J. Darling, Junior, writes:—"I found the nest of this bird on the 2nd July at Kossoom. The nest was of the ordinary Bulbul type, but much larger, and like a very shallow saucer. The foundation was a single piece of some creeping orchid, 3 feet long, coiled round; then a lot of coils of fern, grass, and moss-roots. The nest was 4 inches in diameter on the inside, the walls 1/4 inch thick, and the cavity 1 inch deep. It was built 10 feet from the ground, in a bush in a very exposed position, and exactly where any ordinary Bulbul would have built."

The eggs of this species are of the ordinary Bulbul type, rather broad at the large end, compressed and slightly pyriform, or more or less pointed, towards the small end. The shell fine and smooth, but with only a moderate amount of gloss. The ground-colour varies from very pale pinky white to a rich warm salmon-pink. The markings are two colours: first, a red varying from a dull brownish to almost crimson; the second, a paler colour varying from neutral tint through purplish grey to a full though pale purple. The first may be called the primary markings; the others, which seem to be somewhat beneath the surface of the shell, the secondary ones. Varying as both do in different eggs, all the primary markings of any one egg are almost precisely the same shade; and the same is the case with the secondary ones, and there is always a distinct harmony between both these and the ground tint. As for the markings, they are generally much the most dense, in a more or less confluent mottled cap, round one end, generally the largest, and are usually more or less thinly set elsewhere. In some eggs all the markings are rather coarse and sparse, in others fine and more thickly set. Two eggs measured 1.06 by 0.76 and 1.03 by 0.73.]

295. Iole icterica (Strickl.). The Yellow-browed Bulbul.

Criniger ictericus, Strickl., Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 82; Hume. Rough Draft N. & E. no 450.

The Yellow-browed Bulbul breeds apparently throughout the hilly regions of Ceylon and the southern portion of the Peninsula of India. I have never taken the nests myself, and I have only detailed information of their nidification on the Nilghiris, which they ascend to an elevation of from 6000 to 6500 feet, and where they lay from March to May.

A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Wait near Coonoor on the 20th of March, is a small shallow cup hung between two twigs, measuring some 31/2 inches across and 3/4 inch in depth. It is composed of excessively fine twigs and lined with still finer hair-like grass, is attached to the twigs by cobwebs, and has a few dead leaves attached by the same means to its lower surface. It is a slight structure, nowhere I should think above 1/4 inch in thickness, and apparently carelessly put together: but for all that, owing to the fineness of the materials used, it is a pretty firm and compact nest. It is not easy to express it in words; but still this nest differs very considerably in appearance from the nests of any of the true Bulbuls with which I am acquainted, and more approaches those of Hypsipetes.

Mr. Wait sends me the following note:—

"This bird, although very common on the Nilghiris at elevations of from 4000 to 5000 feet, is a very shy nester, and its nest, which is not easily found, is, as far as my experience goes, invariably placed in the top of young thin saplings at heights of from 6 to 10 feet from the ground. The saplings chosen are almost always in thick cover near the edge of dry water-courses. They generally lay during May, but I have found nests in March. In shape the nest is a moderately deep cup, nearly hemispherical, with an internal diameter of from 2.5 to 3 inches—a true Bulbul's nest, composed of grass and bents and lined with finer grasses. The nest is always suspended by the outer rim between two lateral branches, and never, I believe, built in a fork as is so common in the case of many other Bulbuls. They lay only two eggs, and never, I believe, more. The eggs are longish ovals, rather pointed at one end, a dull white or reddish white, more or less thickly speckled and spotted or clouded with pale yellowish or reddish brown; occasionally the eggs exhibit a few very fine black lines."

Miss Cockburn, writing from Kotagherry, says:—"The Yellow-browed Bulbul is common on the less elevated slopes of the Nilghiris, where it is often seen feeding upon guavas, loquots, pears, peaches, &c. They lay generally in April and May.

"Their nests are constructed very much like those of the common Bulbuls, except that, instead of being placed in the forked branches of trees, they are suspended between two twigs, and fastened to them by cobwebs, the inside being neatly lined with fine grass. Two nests of this bird were found, each containing two fresh eggs, of a pretty pinkish salmon colour, with a dark ring at the thick end; but another nest had three nearly white eggs! The whole structure of the nests was slight and thin, and the eggs could be plainly seen through. The notes of the Yellow-browed Bulbul are loud and repeated often."

Writing on the birds of Ceylon, Colonel Legge remarks:—"I once found the nest of this bird in the Pasdun-Korale forests in August; little or nothing, however, is known of its breeding-habits in Ceylon, so that it most likely commences earlier than that month to rear its brood. My nest was placed in the fork of a thin sapling about 8 feet from the ground. It was of large size for such a bird, the foundation being bulky and composed of small twigs, moss, and dead leaves, supporting a cup of about 21/2 inches in diameter, which was constructed of moss, lined with fine roots; the upper edge of the body of the nest was woven round the supporting branches.... The bottom of the nest was in the fork."

The eggs of this species sent to me by Mr. Wait from Coonoor are totally unlike any other egg of this family with which I am acquainted. They remind one more of the eggs of Stoparola melanops or one of the Niltavas than anything else. The eggs are moderately long and rather perfect ovals, almost devoid of gloss, and with a dull white or pinkish-white ground, speckled more or less thickly over the whole surface with rather pale brownish red or pink. The specklings becoming confluent at the large end, where they form a dull irregular mottled cap. Other specimens received from Miss Cockburn from Kotagherry exhibit the same general characters; but the majority of them are considerably elongated eggs, approaching, so far as shape is concerned, the Hypsipetes type. In some eggs only the faintest trace of pale pinkish mottling towards the large end is observable; in others, the whole surface of the egg is thickly freckled and mottled all over, but most densely at the large end, with salmon-pink or pale pinkish brown.

In length the eggs vary from 0.9 to 1.03, and in breadth from 0.64 to 0.7.[A]

[Footnote A: PYCNONOTUS ANALIS (Horsf.). The Yellow-vented Bulbul.

Otocompsa analis (Horsf.), Hume, cat. no. 452 sex.

Mr. J. Darling, Junior, writes:—"I found the nest of this Bulbul at Salang in the Malay peninsula, on the 14th February. The nest was built in a bush in secondary jungle, with a few trees scattered about. It was in a fork 6 feet from the ground. The foundation was of dried leaves, then fine twigs, and lined with fine grass-bents. There was a good deal of cobweb in the construction. It was an exact facsimile of many nests of Otocompsa fuscicaudata from the Nilgherry Hills. The egg-cavity was 3 inches in diameter and 21/2 inches deep; the walls were 1/2 inch thick, the bottom 1 inch."

The eggs are of the usual variable Bulbul type, some broader and more regular, some more elongated, some more or less pyriform. The shell as in others, and apparently rarely showing any very perceptible gloss. The ground-colour pinky white to a warm pink; the markings, specks, and spots, or, when three or four of these latter have coalesced, occasionally small blotches of a rich maroon-red intermixed with spots and specks and clouds of pale purple. The markings always apparently pretty thickly set everywhere, but almost invariably most densely in a zone about the larger end, where they become at times more or less confluent. Of course as in others of the genus, in some eggs all the markings are very fine and speckly, while in others they are somewhat bolder. In some the red greatly predominates; in others, again, the grey underlying clouds are very widely extended, and form by far the most conspicuous part of the markings, giving a grey tinge to the entire egg. The eggs vary from 0.82 to 0.91 in length and from 0.61 to 0.65 in breadth.]

299. Pycnonotus finlaysoni, Strickl. Finlayson's Stripe-throated Bulbul.

Ixus finlaysoni (Strickl.), Hume, cat. no. 452 ter.

Major C.T. Bingham says:—"On the 22nd May, 1877, while wandering about collecting in the jungles below the Circuit-house at Maulmain, I came across a neat, though thinly made, cup-shaped nest in the fork of a tall sapling, some 12 feet above the ground. Coming closer, I perceived it contained eggs, which were plainly visible through the frail structure of the sides. On looking about to find the owner, I saw a couple of Pycnonotus finlaysoni flitting about uneasily in a tree close at hand; so I hid myself a few yards off, and was almost immediately rewarded by seeing one of them (it turned out to be the female) fly down on to the nest, and seat herself on the eggs. Approaching cautiously, I managed to shoot her as she slipped off; but, on taking down the nest, I found I had fired too soon, as one of the eggs (there were but two) was smashed by a pellet of shot. The nest was rather a deep cup, and, notwithstanding its flimsy sides, strongly made of grass-roots, lined with very fine black roots of fern. The one unbroken egg was rather roundish in shape, of a dull whitish and claret colour, mixed and spotted and clouded with deeper vinous red, chiefly at the larger end."

Mr. J. Darling, Junior, found the nest of this Bulbul on more than one occasion at Taroar in the Malay peninsula. He writes:—"I shot this bird off a nest with two eggs on the 8th February; the nest was in a bush 5 feet from the ground; the foundation was of leaves and fine grass, lined with fine grass and a few cocoanut fibres. The nest was 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. The eggs were too hard-set to blow.

"On the 10th February I took another nest of Pycnonotus finlaysoni at Taroar. The nest was built in a small shrub 3 feet from the ground, in a fork; foundation of dead leaves, built of fine twigs and fibrous bark; lined with fine grass-bents and moss-roots. Egg-cavity 23/4 inches in diameter, 13/4 deep; walls 1/4 inch thick, bottom 3/4 inch.

"Found a nest of Pycnonotus finlaysoni, with two fresh eggs, on the 16th March. The nest was built in a thin small sapling, 51/2 feet from ground, on the top of a thinly wooded hill; the nest was of the ordinary Bulbul type, but better put together and neater. The foundation was of broad fibrous bark and twigs, lined with fine grass-stalks."

The eggs vary in shape from broad ovals a good deal pointed towards one end, to pyriform and elongated shaped, very obtuse even at the small end. The shell is fine and compact, in some has a fine gloss, in others it is rather dull. The ground-colour is a beautiful pink, sometimes with a creamy tinge, and the markings are bold blotches, spots, and streaks of a maroon of varying degrees in richness, and of a subsurface-looking purple, varying to almost inky grey. In some eggs the maroon, in some the purple or grey seems to predominate; in some eggs the markings seem pretty equally distributed over the egg; in others they form a more or less conspicuous zone about the larger end. The eggs measure from 0.85 to 0.92 in length by 0.6 to 0.7 in breadth.

300. Pycnonotus davisoni (Hume). Davison's Stripe-throated Bulbul.

Ixus davisoni, Hume; Hume, cat. no. 452 quat.

Mr. Oates writes from Kyeikpadein in Pegu:—"A nest of this bird was found on the 1st June, and another on 6th of the same month, each containing two fresh eggs. The females, which were shot off the nest, showed, however, no signs on dissection of being about to lay more.

"The nest is a flimsy structure, built of the stems of small weeds and lined with grass. A few fine black tree-roots are twisted round the inside of the egg-chamber. The outside and inside diameters measure 4 and 3 inches, and the depths are similarly 3 and 1.25. Both nests were placed low down about 4 feet from the ground—one in a bush, and the other in a creeper.

"The eggs vary much in size. One pair measure .92 and .88 by .60 and .65, and the other .83 and .82 by .65 and .61 respectively; the ground-colour of all is a pinkish white. In one pair the shell-blotches of washed-out purple are spread over the whole egg, and the surface-spots and clashes of carneous red are also equally spread over the whole shell. In the other pair the shell-marks are grouped round the larger end to form a broad ring, and the whole egg is thickly speckled and spotted with bright reddish. The eggs are very slightly glossy."

301. Pycnonotus melanicterus (Gm.).The Black-capped Bulbul.

Rubigula melanictera (Gm.), Hume, cat. no. 455 bis.

Colonel Legge writes:—"In April 1873 I received from a friend in Ceylon three eggs of this bird; but I was unable to identify them until lately, when I had an opportunity of comparing them with a clutch taken last year in the Western Province, and about which there was no doubt. In the latter case the nest was fixed on the top of a small stump, and was a loose structure of grass and bents; in shape rather a deep cup; and contained two eggs of a reddish-white ground-colour, profusely speckled with reddish brown (in one example confluent round the obtuse end, in the other distributed over the whole surface) over freckles of bluish grey. Dimensions: 0.79 by 0.58, 0.78 by 0.57. The other nest was made of grass on a foundation of dry leaves and herbaceous stalks, loosely lined with fine hair-like tendrils of creepers. The eggs were of a reddish-white ground, thickly covered throughout with brownish-red and dusky red spots, becoming somewhat confluent round the obtuse end. In form they are regular ovals, and measure 0.78 by 0.6, 0.79 by 0.58."

305. Pycnonotus luteolus (Less.). The White-browed Bulbul.

Ixos luteolus (Less.) Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 84; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 452.

Common as is the White-browed Bulbul in Midnapoor, throughout the Tributary Mehals, along the Eastern Ghats, and again, it appears, in Bombay, only two of my correspondents appear as yet to have procured the nest or eggs.

Mr. Benjamin Aitken, writing from Bombay under date the 11th June, says:—"I now send you a nest of Pycnonotus luteolus with two eggs. I took it this morning from, a thickly foliaged tree in a garden. It was placed on the top of the main stem of the tree, which had been abruptly cut off about 5 feet from the ground, where the stem was about 3 inches thick. The nest was begun this day week, Thursday, and the first egg was laid the day before yesterday (Tuesday). The bird is a very common one in gardens in Bombay, though I never saw it in Berar nor even in Poona. They build in situations similar to, but perhaps rather more sheltered than, those chosen by the Common Bulbul; but I remember finding one nest placed at a height of only 2 feet from the ground.

"This present nest was begun, as already mentioned, last Thursday, just two days after the first severe thunder-shower preliminary to the monsoon, now fairly on us.

"I draw your attention to the manner in which the nest has been tied at one place to a twig to prevent its being blown off its very (apparently) insecure site. I was obliged to take the nest, as I was leaving at once, otherwise one or perhaps two more eggs would have been laid."

The nest is a rather loose straggling structure, exteriorly composed of fine twigs. The cavity, hemispherical in shape, is carefully lined with fine grass-stems. Outside it is very irregularly shaped, and many of the twigs used are much too long and hang down several inches from the nest; but on one side the outer framework has been firmly tied with wool and a little cobweb to a live twig to which the leaves, now withered, are still attached. No roots or hair have entered into the composition of this nest.

Mr. E. Aitken writes:—"I once found a nest in Bombay, not many feet above the level of the sea of course.

"The first egg was laid on 14th September. The nest was built in a bush on the edge of an inundated field, but in our garden. It was fixed to a thin waving branch underneath the bush, which completely overshadowed it. It was only 2 feet from the ground, a cup just large enough to hold the body of the bird, whose head and tail always projected over the edge; and it was made of thin twigs and neatly lined with coir. The bird laid two eggs and then deserted the nest. One of these, which I took, was thicker and rounder than a Bulbul's, and thickly spotted with claret-coloured spots, which gathered into a ring at the larger end.

"The eggs were laid on successive days. I think the birds had already had one brood (in another nest), for I saw apparently the same pair followed by a young one not long before."

Dr. Jerdon says:—"I found the nest in my garden at Nellore. It was rather loosely made with roots, grass, and hair, placed in a hedge, and the eggs, four in number, were reddish white, with darker lake-red spots, exceedingly like those of the Common Bulbul."

Colonel Legge, in his 'Birds of Ceylon,' tells us that this Bulbul breeds in the west and south-west of Ceylon from December to June, the months of April and May, however, appearing to be the favourite time. On the eastern side of the island it breeds during the north-east rains.

The eggs answer well enough to Dr. Jerdon's description, but to an oologist's eye they are excessively un-like those of the Common Bulbul; shape, tone of colour, and character of markings alike differ.

In shape they are decidedly elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and smooth, and moderately glossy. The ground is reddish white, and this is profusely speckled and blotched (the blotches being chiefly confined, however, to a broad irregular zone round the broader end) with a deep but certainly, I should say, not lake-red, but much nearer what one would get by mixing brown with vermilion. Besides these red markings sundry clouds and spots of a pale greyish lilac are intermingled in a zone, and one or two spots of the same colour may be traced elsewhere.

The eggs measure 0.92 by 0.62, and 0.97 by 0.63.

300. Pycnonotus blanfordi (Jerd.). Blanford's Bulbul.

Ixus blanfordi (Jerd.), Hume, cat. no. 452 quint.

Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:—"Nest in a small tree, well concealed by leaves, about 7 feet from the ground, near Pegu. A very neat cup measuring 3 inches diameter externally and 2.25 internally. The depth 1.75 inch outside and 1.25 inside. The sides of the nest, though very strongly woven, can be seen through. The materials consist of small fine branchlets of weeds, and the inside is neatly lined with grass. One or two dead leaves, or rather fragments, are used in the exterior walling.

"The nest was found on the 25th May, and contained three eggs slightly incubated. The ground-colour is a fresh pink, but with little gloss. The whole egg is covered with a profusion of dark purplish-red spots, more thickly disposed at the thick end, but everywhere frequent. In addition there are some underlying and much paler smears. The three eggs measured respectively .75, .78, and .77 in length, by .63, .62, and .61 in breadth.

"Subsequently I found five other nests, from the 1st April to the 20th June, all similar to the one described. Eggs invariably three. Average size of twelve eggs .82 by .6."

The nests of this species that I have seen have been very slight flimsy structures, nearly hemispherical cups, composed of fine twigs and the leaf-stalks of pennated leaves a little bound together with cobwebs and thinly lined with fine hair-like grass. In some cases a leaf or two has been attached to the outer surface to aid the concealment of the nest. The nest is very loosely woven just like a sieve, as a rule nowhere more than 0.25 inch thick, and with a truly hemispherical cavity, diameter about 2.5, depth about 1.25.

The eggs are of the ordinary Bulbul type, but not amongst the more richly-coloured examples of these; in shape and size they vary a good deal, but typically they seem to be moderately broad ovals slightly compressed towards the small end. The shell is fine and smooth, but has scarcely any appreciable gloss; the ground is pale pink or pinky white. At the large end the markings are dense, forming in some eggs an almost confluent zone, in others a mottled cap; they consist of irregular-shaped spots and specks of deep red and pale subsurface-looking greyish purple; over the rest of the surface of the egg outside the zone or cap the markings are much smaller in size and much more thinly scattered, and it is observable that the secondary purple markings are to a great extent confined to the zone or cap, as the case may be, and its immediate neighbourhood.