CERASOPIIILA. 373 



Himalayan form iu being more weakly marked, less handsome 

 eggs and also in being generally a shorter, blunter oval. Thirty 

 eggs average '26-(5 x 19-5 mm. and vary in length bet^veen 28'3 X 

 19-3 mm. and 25-0 X 19-2 mm. and in breadth between 27-0 x 20-6 

 and 26-3 X 19-0 mm. They breed from February to July. 



Habits. Those of the genus, Tbey are never found in the 

 plains and seldom below 2,000 feet, even in winter. Mr. Ehodes 

 Morgan records having seen these Bulbuls " migrating in vast 

 flights, numbering several thousands, in the Bolumputty Valley 

 in July. Tliey were flying westwards towards Malabar." 



They frequent both the outskirts of forests and heavily-wooded 

 districts and also small spinneys and .fholas standing in the 

 hollows of grass-covered hills. 



Genus CERASOPHILA Eingham, 1900. 



This genus was created by Bingham for the reception of a very 

 remarkable Bulbui, probably nearest to the genus Microscelis 

 {Hyj^sipetes auct. ). Like that genus the tarsi are short and non- 

 scutellate and the tail is rather long and forked. The culmen 

 is more curved than in Microscelis but it differs principally from 

 that genus in having a bare unfeathered patch of skin round the 

 eye. The under tail-coverts are brightly coloured as in Molpastes 

 and Otocompsa. 



(390) Cerasophila thompsoni. 

 Bingham's White-headed Bulbul. 



Cerasophila thompsoni Bingham, A. M. N. H., (7) v, p. 358 (1900) 



(Loi-San-Pa, 6,500 feet, S. Shan States). 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. "The whole head and neck snow-white, the white 

 of these parts abruptly defined from the back and breast, and 

 extending further down on the upper back than on the sides of 

 the neck and breast : the back, ramp, upper tail-coverts, wing- 

 coverts, scapulars, the outer webs of the two inner tertiaries, the 

 breast, sides, and stomach a clear ash-grey; the primary wing- 

 feathers, the secondaries, the tertiaries, with the exception noted 

 above, and the tail hair-brown; vent and under tail-coverts light 

 bright chestnut ; the under wing-coverts and axillaries, the lower 

 portion of the stomach, and some of the lower feathers on the 

 thighs pale grey with a wash of light chestnut." 



Colours of soft parts. " Bill, legs and feet coral- red, claws horny : 

 a bare patch of skin round the eyes, conspicuously wider below 

 the eyes than above it, greyish tinged with yellow, the eyelids 

 with a i-im of bright vermilion-red. Iris whitish-yellow to pale 

 yellow." 



The sexes are alike in plumage and differ only very slightly in size. 



Measurements, "d. Length 7-8 inches, wing 3*8, tail 3-8, 

 tarsus 0*7, bill from gape 0*85. 5 . Length 7'8 inches, wing 3*7, 



