106 M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 



They frequently vary, but the general tone sounds something 

 like tshittily tshottily, which is often repeated after a short stop. 

 Now and then an ori-oli ! tio ! tjoti ! &c. is heard. I have tried 

 to express these sounds by notes. This singing is interesting 



p^mm 



a 



from the clearness of its tone, but however richer in change, it 

 does not seem to me to be near so agreeable as the monotonous 

 but full and melodious sound of our cuckoo. The laughing sounds 

 which Levaillant says he has heard from the same species in the 

 south of Africa are unknown to me*. The hen-bird sings pro- 

 bably seldom, and on that account she is rarely to be met with, 

 however common they were. The above-described young male 

 did not sit quiet like the older ones, but hopped about among 

 the branches without uttering a sound. In his stomach he had 

 only a kind of round seed (probably of some parasite plant) ; but 

 two older males which I dissected in February had only eaten 

 blossoms of the mango-tree (Mangifera indica, L.). I have not 

 noted down whether this bird was heard or seen after the end of 

 March. 



2. Turdus cafer, L. — Merle huppe du Cap de Bon Espe>ance, 

 Briss., Buff. PL Enl. 563 (fig. non bona). Le Curouge, Levaill. 

 Ois. Afr. 107. f. 1. (Gen. Pycnonotus, Kuhl=Ixos, Temm.) 



Fuscus, capite subcristato, cum collo pectoreque nigris ; crisso 

 rubro ; rectricibus apice uropygioque albis. Venter fusco-cineras- 

 cens ; remiges 4 gradatse; iris fusco-rufescens. Magnit. alaudse ; 

 ala 98 millim., cauda 97, tarsus 25. (Alius paulo minor.) 



(^(Calcutta, Febr. testic. tumidis) colores puri ; tectrices caudae 

 niveae ; apice rosea?. $ (Calc. Febr.) paullo sordidius colorata, tec- 

 trices superiores caudae cinerascentes. Non minor quam mas. In 

 utroque sexu plumae dorsi, ventris anterioris et tectrices alse cineras- 

 cente limbatae. 



This is the bird which the Hindoos called Bulbul, and which 

 is considered the most distinguished singing-bird in India. It 

 acts the same part in the Hindostan and Persian poetry as the 

 Nightingale in the European, and the name Bulbul is translated 

 by the Europeans in India l Nightingale/ The singing of the 

 Bulbul is pretty powerful, and contains some parts which are like 

 those of our blackbird, but they are in general more lively, al- 

 most like the Sylviidce. It generally sings before noon, and even 

 after the setting of the sun from the tops of the trees, with often 



* It is now clearly ascertained that the S. African black-headed oriole 

 (0. larvatus, Licht.) is quite distinct from O. melanocephalus of India, 

 which at once accounts for the difference of their notes. — H. E. S. 



