36 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



short distance iu quest of insects. It is destructive to 

 buds, blu.5eunis, Jjeas, and strawberries, with other soft 

 fruit. 



'the Red-vented liolbul breeds from Februiry to 

 Aujjust, constructinj; a somewhiit fragile but jiretty cup- 

 shaped nest of grass and dead leaves, in bushes, 

 creepers, on the lower branches of trees, or on the 

 top of a stump. The eggs, which are UiUilly three in 

 nunil>er, are pale rosy white, mirked with reddish 

 brown and purplish grey. 



Scientists call this the "Common" or "Madras Red- 

 vented Hulbul," but for many years it was by no means 

 freely iniixirted ; 60 that iiiy male, for which I gave 

 30s. early in lb92, was at that time not dear. Never- 

 theless, I have since had opportunities of purchasing 

 the same species at a considerably lower rate. I 

 have found the song of this bird infinitely inferior 

 to that of the Persian Bulbul ; it rarely amounts to 

 a trill or scalB (though, when it does, the sound is 

 rich and pleasing), but is fragmentary and incessantly 

 re|)eated, somewhat after the manner of a Song Thrush, 

 but with the tone of a Blackbird. Three or lour notes 

 are uttered, then there is a pause, and the same notes 

 are repeated precisely in the same manner, and so the 

 bii>d goes on, perhaps for five or ten minutes; then he 

 gets an inspiration, and changes to a different key 

 with more rapid utterance. In short, he is as inferior 

 to an Knglish Thrush as a songster as the latter is to 

 the Persian Bulbul. 



For a considerable time I kept my bird in an aviary 

 with Blue Robins; and when the latter had young he 

 would insist on feeding them, much to the annoyance 

 of the parents. Not only eo, but he objected to the 

 cock Blue-bird attending to their wants, and at length 

 so nearly killed the latter that I was obliged to prevent 

 further mischief by removing the Bulbul to the adjoin- 

 ing aviary. He died in November, 1895, after having 

 been about three ye.irs and nine months in my posses- 

 sion. 



The sexes of this, and in fact all of the Bulbuls, 

 can be readily distinguished by comparuig the bills in 

 profile ; that of the male is always shorter, deeper, and 

 of courje with more .irclicd cul'men (ridge) than' that 

 of the female. In this character they are diametrically 

 opposed to the true Thrushes, in which the short stout 

 bill is always pre.'ent in the female and the longer and 

 more slender one in the male. 



Bl.\ck-cappkd Bdi.bit. {Pycnonoivs atricapillus). 



Above pale ashy-brown, with lighter edges to the 

 feathers, excepting on the lower back ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts .sordid white, the latter tipped more or less 

 with pale brown, the longest wholly of this colour: tail- 

 feathers black-brown, increasinglv tipped with white 

 from centre of tail, the outermost with pale brown 

 bases ; wings brown, the feathers edged with ashy- 

 brown ; crest and nape black ; ear-coverts ashy-white 

 extending on to sides of neck, remainder of head, in- 

 cluding upper throat, black ; under surface pale ashy- 

 brown, deeper on breast and sides ; under tailcoverts 

 crimson ; under wing-coverts and axillaries yellowisti- 

 brown ; Hights below yellowish along edge of outer 

 webs; bill and feet black; iris brown. Hab., Southern 

 China, extending to Fokien and Ningpo ; also the hills 

 of Burma and Tenasserini. 



This is another representative of the Red-vented 

 Bulbul. Speakinc of it in The Ihix for 1892. Mr. 

 J. D. de la Touche .«avs that it is " fairly common on 

 th» hills near Swatow."" Mr. C. B. Rickett {The Ibu, 

 1903, p. 215) observes: — "AltKough this species is a 

 common resident round Anioy, it rarely occurs at 

 Foochow"; and Mr. J. C. Ker=haw. in his "List of 

 Birds of the Quangtung Coast, China" (The Ihis. 1904, 



p. 237) says : — " Certainly the commonest Bulbul, and 

 perhaps the most numerous resident bird." But none 

 of these gentlemen give us any information as to the 

 habits of this "common" bird, and oddly enough, 

 although a specimen reached the London Zoological 

 Garden.s in 1895, Dr. Russ makes no mention of it in 

 his book ; this is the more strange when one notes that 

 he includes many species which have never been im- 

 ported on the off-chance that they may be some day. 



It is, of cour.=.e, probable that the habits of this 

 species, its nest, and its eggs, are very similar to those 

 of the Red-vented forms of India, and it is certain that 

 its treatment in captivity ought to be the same. 

 Syrian Bllbul (I'ljcnonolus xanlhopygus). 



The head and upper part of the neck of the Syrian 

 Bulbul are glossy blacK, sharply defined ; the upper 

 surface of the body ashy dust brown, merging into 

 umber brown on the primaries; the upper tail-coverts 

 are also rather darker than the rest of the upper 

 surface; the tail is umber brown, with rather paler 

 tips to the feathers; the under surface is dull while 

 stained with pale ashy brown on the breast and flanks; 

 the vent and under tail-eoverts are bright golden 

 yellow; the bill and legs are black, and the iris of the 

 eye is brown. According to Dresser this Bulbul is 

 "only found in the south-eastern portion of the western 

 Palfeaictic Region." It is very common in Palestine, 

 where Canon Tristram met with it in all parts of tho 

 country, wherever woods or gardens existed, from Jaffa 

 to the Joidan. This bird, though Eomewhat shy, is the 

 finest songster in Palestine, and consequently has 

 rightly earned the title of " the Palestine Nightingale.'" 

 It is very hardy, and easily kept in confinement ; it is 

 not naturally gregarious in its habits, so that only ai 

 single pair should be keot in an aviary. Its nest, 

 which is very small and neat, is usually placed in a. 

 fork, or on a lateral branch of a tree, and the outside 

 is formed of materials to match its surroundings. The 

 eggs, three to four in number, are usually deposited in 

 March or April, and are white, with faint underlying 

 purplish ."hell-markings, and clearly-defined chocolate 

 crimson spots. According to Wiener, this species has 

 been bred in captivity in Germany, but I do not see 

 that Dr. Ru-s mentions this ; and it is his custom, when 

 such an event has taken place, to give a detailed account 

 of it. 



White-e.abf.d Bulbul [Pycnonolus leucolis). 



The head of this charming bird is jet black, with the 

 ear-coverts and back of the cheeks white ; the back of 

 the neck rich brown, narrowly banded with blackish; 

 the upper surface of the body and wings earthy brown, 

 the edges of the feathers paler; the wings margined 

 with pale ashy t the tail brown at the base, changing 

 to black beyond the coverts and tinped wi'.h white ; 

 under surface whity-brown ; the vent and under tail- 

 coverts rich saffron- yellow ; the legs and bill black, 

 the iris of the eye brown. Mr. W. T. Blanford, in 

 his " Birds of Eastern Persia," says of this bird : — 

 " The only representative in Persia of the great 

 tropical family of Pycnnnotid/r; it abounds in Balu- 

 chistan and the .southernmost portion of the Persian 

 highlands, but not on the plateau far north of Shiraz. 

 It, however, extends far into Mesopotamia, and I have 

 seen caged specimens at Karachi, said to have been 

 brought from Bajhdad. Birds from Mesopotamia are- 

 highly est«;med in Sindh. because thty <:ing far more 

 readily and finely in confinejnent than those captured 

 in Western India : whether this is due to greater natural 

 powers of song in the birds themselves, or to greater 

 skill in famine; fheni among the bird-catchers of the 

 Tigris and Enphiates valley I cannot say. but I can 

 vouch for the fact. Eastward it appears to be chiefly 



