760 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



No. v.— NOTES ON THE HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS (THE 

 BULBUL SHRIKE). 



Since Dr. Bowdler Shavpe's paper in the "Ibis," — 1886, page ,476, — " On the 

 Birds from Fao," nothing has been written about the Hijpocolius, andMr. Gates 

 in his " Avifauna of India," f age 250, states : " The position of the present 

 genus is somewhat uncertain owing to want of information regarding the 

 plumage of the nestling ;'' this information is supplied in the following notes. 



These notes being a record of the breeding seasons of this little-known 

 bird, necessarily repeat themselves, but those of one year go to confirm those 

 of another, and as all the information we can get referring to the Z/^/i^o- 

 colucs is valuable, I have not attempted to condense them. 



The adolescent stage of plumage has never before been described. The 

 descriptions given were taken from living specimens — nestlings and imma- 

 ture — and are correct for each individual bird to which it refers. 



The measurements where given are from freshly killed birds before 

 skinning. 



Von Henglin, in his "Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika's" describes an adult 

 bird of the second year, while Mr. Blanford had before him a bird of the 

 first year, the dusky markings on the primaries being a sign of immaturity. 

 In nestlings — a fortnight to three weeks old, the first primary is almost entirely 

 sooty, all the others being graded with the same, gradually decreasing to- 

 wards the secondaries, till the last primary is only broadly tipped with it. 

 By the time the birds leave Fao, this has worn off all the primaries except 

 the first two, where it is confined only to their tips, as in Mr. Blanford's bird. 



The nestlings take after the female in coloration except that the white 

 patch in the male is always present. In the immature female the secondaries 

 are tipped white, as is also the half -grown feather of the adult , this disap- 

 pears as the feathers grow to full size. The barring, so characteristic of the 

 nestling and immature Laniidce, is never present. 



In the breeding season the plumage of the male is decidedly brighter than at 

 any other time. The bill is flesh-coloured with blackish tip in immature and 



