64 Zoological Society : — 



Genus Phcenicornis, Swains. 

 Phcenicornis Peregrinus, Vig. 



I have not met with the nest and eggs of the small red bird, but I 

 believe the description given below is that of a young bird soon after 

 it had left the nest. " 18th September 1849. Whole of the upper 

 plumage olive-green, mottled about the head with pale yellow, a large 

 spot of which is behind the eye ; tips of the lesser wing- coverts pale. 

 Primaries and secondaries dark, with pale edges ; breast and belly 

 pale whitish-yellow, with yellow streaks ; legs and feet pale lead- 

 colour ; claws soft, as also the edges of the beak." 



Genus Iora. 



lORA TIPHIA. 



I have never met with the nest or eggs of this handsome little bird ; 

 but Dr. Jerdon, in his Catalogue of Indian Birds, says, '' I once, on 

 the west coast, in the month of September, met with a nest of this 

 species in the fork of a low tree ; it was more neatly and carefully 

 made than any other of the few nests I have seen in this country. It 

 contained young ones." The Iora has a most wonderful power of 

 voice. At one moment it is heard uttering a low plaintive cry, at 

 the next a shrill whistle ; no one could have believed the notes to 

 have issued from the same throat. On the 29th of August, 1849, 

 . I shot a female. The eggs in the ovaries were very large. The 

 gizzard contained the remains of a curious green insect, partly covered 

 with black hair. The tongue of this bird is furnished with two long 

 muscles, as in the woodpecker. 



Genus H^matornis. 



Hjematornis cafer. Common Bulbul. 



This sprightly and truly Indian bird breeds during the months of 

 August and September. The first time that I noticed them building 

 in August was on the 1 1th, and I found a nest with one fresh-laid egg 

 on the 25th of September. They build in thick bushes in gardens. 

 I found two nests in my garden at Ahmednuggur, one built in a 

 guava tree, and the other in a mass of creepers. The nest is com- 

 posed of fine twigs, bound together here and there with cobwebs, and 

 lined with fibres. The nest I send is lined with the fibre of the 

 cocoa-nut picked off a cocoa-fibre mat. I observed the old birds 

 picking at the mat when it was put out of doors. I do not know 

 the number of eggs which their nest generally contains. The egg is 

 ■j^^ in. in length by a little more than ^V wide, of a rich madder 

 colour, spotted and blotched with grey and madder-brown. The only 

 egg which I possessed is unfortunately broken ; but a drawing in my 

 possession, most accurately painted by my sister-in-law. Miss Gardiner, 

 gives it very correctly. 



