60 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



Taking these alleged differences in detail — 



" Bill slender and curved" Can the fact of the bill being slender 

 be advanced as a reason for dividing this bird from the Brachy- 

 podince, a Sub-family, which admittedly includes birds having such 

 opposite forms of bill as are exhibited in the two birds, Hypsipetes 

 and Sjrizixns ? Which, I ask, shows the greater difference, a com- 

 parison between the mandibles of these two genera, or between those 

 of Chloropsis and the former ? 



As regards the bill being curved, the majority of the bulbuls 

 possess this attribute strongly, all more or less, " and about as long as 

 the head.'" Here, again, we may refer to Spizi.vus as having about 

 the shortest bill of any bulbul, scarcely exceeding one- third the length 

 of the head; in Alucurus the bill is a little under one-half the length, 

 in many bulbuls it is about, or rather more than half the length of 

 the head ; in Iole we find that is equal to three-quarters, whilst in 

 Hypsipetes the length of the bill is the same as the head. So that 

 in this genus the proportionate length of the bill is the same as in 

 Chhropsis. 



" The bill is notched " This is also a characteristic of the bills of 

 Oates' Sub-fam, Brachypodince. 



" The nostrils are oval." Again the same as in that Sub- family. 



" The rictal bristles are iceak." This is certainly a feature which is 

 rare in the Sub-family as curtailed by him, but even in this case 

 there are many degrees of strength and length. Thus in Hypsipetes 

 the rictal bristles are decidedly less developed than in many of the 

 other genera, and again there is a vast difference in the stoutness of 

 those found in the birds Alucurus and Ilcmixu.s. 



" The frontal feathers are advanced up to the nostrils. In Spizixus 

 we actually find that they not only come up to the nostrils but 

 assume an enlarged character, and they are called by Oates 

 " plumelets," these same plumelets partially overhanging and 

 obscuring the nostrils. 



" The head is not crested." Nor have all the bulbuls crested heads, as 

 for instance Alophooxus, etc. Indeed, in the Sub-family the form 

 of the head feathers range from such as are found in the full-crested 

 birds Ilypxi/H'frs, Spizivus, and others through Molpastes (see Oatca' 



