IIYPSIPETES. 167 



spots of pale purple, wliieli appear as if beueatli the surface of 

 the shell. lu 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, moi'e 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 ^■ery faint streaks and clouds 

 of \evy pale inky purple underlying the primary markings. 



In length the eggs vary from U*9 to I'lo, and in breadth from 0*7 

 to 0*78; but the average of twenty-five eggs measured is 1*03 by 0-7o. 



271. Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes. The Southern-Indian 

 Blade Bulhul. 



Hypsipetes neilgherriensis, Jerd. ; Jerd. B. hid. ii, p. 78 ; Hume, 



Rowjh Draft N. ^- E. no. 445. 

 Hj^sipetes 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 Ootacamuud, 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 1 4th March, 1869, 

 by Mr. Carter, to whom I owe this and many other nests from the 

 JXilghiris, reminds one much of those of the Eed-cheeked Bulbuls. 

 A wisp of dry grass and dead leaves, with the dead lea\ es greatly 

 predominating exteriorly, twisted into a shallow cup, some 4j 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 

 iu 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. Ehodes AV. 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 gi'ound. The 

 nest is constructed of the dried stems of the wild forget-me-not, 



