132 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



of the carpet on which the chaprassis sit when not 

 engaged in active work. This nest was of even rougher 

 design than the first one, and was equally devoid of 

 decoration. So carelessly had it been constructed 

 that, to use a nautical expression, it had a distinct 

 list. I found in the nest three pinkish eggs, mottled 

 and blotched with purplish red. They had been 

 laid some time before I first saw them. This was 

 demonstrated by the reluctance of the hen to leave 

 the nest when I approached. Among birds the parental 

 instinct increases as incubation proceeds. On one 

 occasion the bird sitting on the nest in question 

 allowed me to stroke its tail. This organ projects 

 upwards like a semaphore, the nest not being sufficiently 

 large to accommodate it. 



It was not until the 15th July that I had leisure to 

 watch these bulbuls closely. Up to that time I had 

 merely noticed that both birds incubate, and that 

 both sexes, and not the cock alone, as some writers 

 assert, have the red '* whiskers," or feathers, on the 

 cheeks. 



The weather being warm, it was not necessary for 

 the birds to sit continuously, and the eggs were fre- 

 quently left for ten minutes or longer at a time. On 

 the morning of the 15th July, I found that two of the 

 young birds had hatched out. Both parents were 

 feeding them. 



Birds are creatures of habit. Each parent bulbul 

 had its own way of approaching the nest and of 

 perching when tending the nestlings, so that, although 

 I was not able to say for certain which of the pair 



