MOLPASTES. '.V.)l 



This bird is a black-Leaded crestless form of tlie last bird ; the 

 general colour above is also decidedly paler. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris brown ; bill and lees black. 



Measurements. Just about tbe same size as the White-cheeked 

 Jiulttul, tlie wiiii;; running from 8(5 to 913 mm. ; the bill, however, is 

 much smaller than iii eitlier the preceding or the following l)ird, 

 measuring only about 12 to 13 mm. In shape it is rather st^Mit 

 and blunt instead of slender as in hnco'jeiujs or very stout and 

 hea\y as in liainii. 



Distribution. Sind ; Cnteh ; Gu/.erat ; Rajputana; Punjab; 

 the A'.W. Provinces South to Etawa and Central India as far 

 E;ist as Jhiiiisi, Saugor and Hoshangabad. 



Nidification. This differs in no way from that of the White- 

 cheeked J^ulbul but the eggs average al)out 21*0 x 15-9 mm. 



Habits. Tliis bird is merely a plains form of M. 7. leucogenijs, 

 which is a hill Bulbul. It is also more exclusively a bird of 

 civilization, breeding round about villages, gardens and orchards 

 and frequenting lightly-wooded and cultivated country rather 

 than tiiose parts w here the woods are at all (extensive. 



(4u7) Molpastes leucog-enys humii. 

 HumeV AVhite-eaeeb Bulbul. 

 .Ifoqjasfi's humiiOate^, Fauna B. T., Bird?, i, p. 274(Jalalpur,.Thelum). 



Yeniacular names. Not distinguished from the last. 



Description. Difiers from the White-eared Bulbul in having a 

 short, full crest and in having both forehead and crest practically 

 black, VFith only very faint pale edgings. There is no white 

 eyebrow ; the upper plumage is a grey-brown, with no trace of 

 the olive tinge so often present in 31. I. le^wor/enys. 



Colours of soft parts as in leucogenys but the bill is always 

 deep black. 



Measurements as in the other races but tbe culmen measures 

 about 15 mm. and is blunt and very stout and heavy. The wing 

 varies from 82 to 93 mm. 



Distribution. Gates named this bird from a specimen in the 

 British Museuu) series which he said differed from all the rest, 

 but a more careful e.xamination shows that in this series there are 

 about twenty other specimens in every respect identical with the 

 type. These birds are all from a small area iu the country round 

 Jhelum, Attock, Bannu and Kohat, on the extreme N.W. Frontier. 



Nidification. Similar to that of the other subspecies. 



Habits. This appears to be a bird of the lower bills of the 

 ]N.W. Frontier intermediate between the range of M.l. leam/enr/s 

 on the higher liills and M. I. hucotis in the better-wooded plains. 

 It is a resident bird, of cou?'se, frequenting and breeding in 

 the gardens aiul iu the scanty vegetation and hedges round about 

 cultivated areas. 



