418 PTCNONOTID^. 



Distribution. The Peninsula of India, from Baroda on the 

 West and Midnapore on the East down to Cape Comorin ; 

 Ceylon, liare or absent on the Deccan table-land and throughout 

 the Central Provinces, 



Nidification. This bird breeds very commonly in Ceylon, the 

 AVest coast of Soutli India and again in West Bengal and parts 

 of Orissa. The nest is not, I think, distinguishable from tliat 

 of Otocompsa but is on the average more untidy, flimsy and 

 unfinished. The sites selected are low, thick bushes in scrub- 

 jungle, the outskirts of forest and jjartly cultivated country and 

 the nest is seldom more than 4 feet from the ground. Hume 

 says the eggs are unlike those of Molpastes or Otocompsa. Whilst, 

 hovvever, richly marked, handsome eggs such as are so often 

 obtained of Molpastes are very rare in this species, the eggs as 

 a series are like weakly marked, rather long-shaped eggs of that 

 bird. Normally only two eggs are laid, sometimes tliree, and 

 tlie average of sixty eggs is 22*9 x lo-8 mm., the extremes being 

 25-5 X 15-6, 24-6 x 17-0, 19-0 X 156 and 23-8 x 15-0 mm. 



The birds la}^ in almcyt every month of the year in Cejdon but 

 chiefly in February and March, whilst in Bombay they lay from 

 April to July. 



Habits, The White-browed Bulbul is a bird neitlier of actual 

 forest nor of compounds and gardens. It prefers scrub- and bush- 

 jungle, thin rather than dense, the outskirts of forest and country 

 which is partly cultivated and partly wooded. It does not enter 

 gardens but may be seen in the vicinity of villages. It is found 

 only in the plains and lower hills. 



Pycnonotus plumosus. 



The birds of this species are spread over a very wide area 

 through East and .South Burma, the Malay Peninsula and many 

 of the islands and again East through tSiam, Yunnan, Annain, 

 etc. There are three races separable but they do not occupy 

 very well-defined areas and it is not easy to say exactlv where 

 P. p. hlanfordi and P. p. plumosus meet. Between P.p. robinsoni 

 and P. 2>- plumosus I cannot lix anything definite but throughout 

 the Northern Peninsula they probably represent Eastern and 

 Western races. They may eventually have to be treated as 

 species. 



Key to Suhspecies. 



A. Ear-coverts brown with silvery-white stripes. P. 2^lumosus 2>hu)iosiis, 



B. Eai'-coverts entirely silverj'-wliite. fp. 419. 



a. Paler both above and below ... P.j}. blimfordi^^. 420. 



b. Darker both above and below P.p. robinsoni, p. 420. 



