390 Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 



This species is very plentiful about the Magaliesbergen ; 

 in the Potchefstroom district it is not nearly so common. 



326. Pycnonotus layardi, n. sp. LayarcVs Bulbul. 

 Four males, Rustenburg, June and July. Irides dusky 

 umber or dark umber. 



Female, Rustenburg, June 18th. Irides umber. 

 This species is equally plentiful about Eustenburg with the 

 preceding one ; and both are almost always together in com- 

 panies, feeding amicably, side by side, on the numerous berries 

 which are on many of the bushes and trees. They are very 

 fond of mobbing any strange bird they see, or a cat, and are 

 useful on that account. Sometimes they make a great noise 

 about a snake, an Owl, or a Hawk. When they begin to 

 chatter, many other birds come at once to see what is the 

 matter ; and one can always get a good bird or two by attend- 

 ing the call of assembly. 



[Mr. Sharpe, in his second edition of Mr. Layard^s ' Birds 

 of South Africa,^ only admits two South- African species of 

 Pycnonotus, under the names of " P. capensis, Red-eyebrowed 

 Bulbul,^' and " P. tricolor, Black-eyebrowed Bulbul ;'' he 

 adds, " Although for the present admitting only two species 

 of Pycnonotus in South Africa, we do not regard the matter 

 as settled. ^^ 



To me it appears that each of the above species admitted 

 by Mr. Sharpe comprises two distinct races, capable of spe- 

 cific distinction, and that thus the entire number of species 

 of this genus found in South Africa is in reality four. 



This view has been already ably advocated by Mr. Layard 

 in 'The Ibis' for 1871, pp. 229, 230; and I believe that 

 it is satisfactorily sustained by the result of subsequent 

 observations. 



Of these four species, two, viz. P. capensis and P. tricolor, 

 have the crown of the head dark brown, whereas in the other 

 two species it is a decided black. The brown of the breast 

 comes much closer down to the yellow crissum in P. capensis 

 than in the other three species ; bvit this peculiarity is not 

 shown in Le Vaillant's figure (pi. 105) of his " Brunet," 



