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birds and seem quite hardy. I give them Canary, white 

 millet, oats and hemp, of which their favourite is canary. 

 They care less for green food than any other Parra- 

 keets I have kept, and the growing grass in the outer 

 part of their enclosure has not disappeared as in my 

 other Parrakeet aviaries. 



Brief 1Rotc5 on Bulbuls. 



By E. Wir,i<iAM Harper, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



Our worthy Editor has asked me to write some- 

 thing about the wild life of birds I have met with iu 

 the tropics ; and I really hardly know where to begin 

 — any more than I should do if requested to write 

 about British birds. However, I have decided to con- 

 fine my remarks to a favourite Eastern subfamily, 

 namely the BrachypodincB, or Bulbuls. It is a large 

 one, containing upwards of fifty species — not includ- 

 ing the so-called " Green Bulbuls" or Chloropses, for 

 which Dr. Butler's name of "fruitsucker" is eminently 

 suited. 



Bulbuls are confined to the Old World, and the 

 sexes are alike in colour. They have a very short 

 tarsus or " leg," which does not exceed the length of 

 the middle toe and claw together. Most of them are 

 crested, and nearly all have hairs springing from the 

 nape of the neck. They are largely fruit-eaters ; and 

 in pursuit of this food will often hover in the air over 

 a bunch of berries. Their song, though not generally 

 sustained, is pleasing, being full of loud liquid notes. 

 One, the Persian White-eared Bulbul (Molpastes leiico- 

 /z^) is the famous traditional Eastern "Nightingale," 

 Some of the Bulbuls are very pugnacious : the Bengal 



