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conspicuous, but never entirely absent. 

 The shape of the wings and tail, as 

 well as the coloration, varies quite 

 widely. There is usually a crest. 



Bulbuls are non-migratory, arboreal, 

 and gregarious in their habits, and the 

 majority have a melodious cheerful 

 song. The name " Bulbul " is Persian 

 for Nightingale, and though the two 

 families of birds are quite different, has 

 been applied to these birds from their 

 habit of sometimes singing at night in 

 the early summer, or spring. 



Their food consists mainly of fruits, 

 berries, and seeds. 



This is an Old World family of about 

 two hundred and fifty species, eight of 

 which are found in China, and five in 

 the Yangtse Valley. 



CHINESE BULBUL 

 (BLACK-HEADED BULBUL.) 



PYCNONOTUS SINENSIS (gm). 



Description. — Length eight inches. 

 Bill, tarsus, and iris, black. 



Top of the head black, with the 

 nape and a spot behind the eyes white. 

 Back and rump gray mixed greenish 

 yellow. Wings and tail gray tinted 

 greenish yellow. Throat white. Breast 

 and flanks grayish brown washed with 

 yellow. 



Distribution. — South China, a very 

 common resident in the Yangtse Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nests are placed 

 in the shrubbery of gardens, or thickets. 

 They are quite fond of building in the 

 thick, green foliage of the mulberries 

 early in the spring, and many nests 

 are destroyed every year, when the 

 first crop of leaves are gathered to feed 

 the silk worms. 



