384 PTCJ^^ONOTID^E. 



3,000 feet and on the Nilgiri Hills up to about 8,000 feet above 

 Ootacainund. They breed in Ceylon principally in March and 

 April but eggs maj be taken in almost any month ; in India May 

 and June are, perhaps, the favouinte months but there also the 

 breeding season is very extended, many second broods are hatched 

 and there is practically no season in which an odd nest or two may 

 not be seen. The nest is a cup made of dead leaves, grass, twigs, 

 creeper stems and odd scraps of dried moss, lichen etc., fairly 

 compactly put together but rather untidy. The lining is of fine roots 

 and gi'een stems. No nests are ever taken in forest or really 

 heavy jungle and no nest is built very high up in big trees 

 or, on the other hand, placed quite on the ground. Within these 

 limits, however, they may be built in almost any situation. A 

 shrub or small tree wit.iiin a few feet of a frequented path, a trellis 

 over a verandah, a bush in scrub surrounding a village, a thick 

 patch of high grass in an orchard — all in turn may serve the pur- 

 pose and, failing these, any other kind of bush, tree or stump will 

 suffice. The number of eggs laid is two or three but in the nox*th 

 a clutch of four may occasionally be seen. In ground-colour the 

 eggs vary fi'om pure white to a pale or deep salmon-pink, a few 

 having rather a lilac tint. Normally the markings consist of 

 numerous small blotches, spots and freckles of various shades of red, 

 reddish brown or pinkish brown with others, less numerous, under- 

 lying them of pale neutral tint and grey. In a few eggs the marks 

 may be mere freckles or stipplings, in others again somewhat 

 bolder and more blotchy but the range of variation does not seem 

 as great as it is in M. h. hemjalensis and M. h. hurmanicus. In 

 textvire the eggs are smooth but not very fine grained, there is 

 little or no gloss and they are rather fragile for their size. 

 100 eggs average 21-lxl5"5 mm. and vary in length between 

 24"3xl6-5 and 19*0 X 15-1 mm. and in breadth between 20*2 x 

 16-9 and 21-4x15 mm. 



Habits. The various i\aces of Eed-vented Bulbuls are amongst 

 the most common birds of India, sharing with the Myna, the Crow 

 and the Kite an attachment to the vicinity of civilization and the 

 haunts of man. They are not gregarious in tlie true sense of the 

 word but they are so plentiful that in any spot which offers any 

 inducements ni the Avay of food large numbers may be seen feeding 

 together. They feed on almost any kind of fruit, seed or insect 

 and are often most destructive, picking off oranges when about 

 the size of a pill, destroying peas in the hill gai'dens and also 

 pulling to pieces young shoots and buds. They are rather quarrel- 

 some and extremely plucky and the natives in many (larts of India 

 keep them for fighting purposes and the males will sometimes 

 fight to the death unless parted. Their voice cannot be called 

 beautiful but many of the notes are pleasant and they are 

 extremely cheerful birds, always in an optimistic frame of mind 

 and any garden is the richer for their lively, restless presence 

 and constant gay notes. Their flight is quick and strong. 



