40 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



eludes from this fuct that Bulbuls should not be difficult 

 to breed ; but, being aggressive birds, it would be 

 uneafe to trust them in a mixed collectioL' 



Bbown-eared Bulbul [Hemixus Havala). 



Croflm dusky slate-grey, crested ; remainder of upper 

 surface ashy grey, wings and tail dusky ; greater 

 coverts and outer webs of second.iries margined with 

 olive-yellow ; lores and a broad moustachiul streak from 

 lower. mandible black; car-coverts silky brown; throat 

 white; breast, sidee of body and thighs ashy grey; 

 centre of abdomen greyish white ; undei tail-coverts 

 white; bill black; feet dark plumbeous; iris dark 

 reddish-brown. No se.\ual difference has been de- 

 scribed, but doubtless the female has a more slender 

 bill than the male. Hab., Himalayas, from 3,000 to 

 4,000 feet, from between Simla and Mussoorie eastwards 

 to Bootan, and apparently to the hejd of the Assam 

 valley. It is also found in the Khasia hills, and the 

 Kakhyen hills in Bujmih. (Shai-po.) 



According to Jerdon |" Birds of India," Vol. II., pp. 

 80-81). " It is not very rare near Darjeeling, at eleva- 

 tione of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet. It associates in small 

 parties, feeds both on berries and insects, and has a 

 loud warbling note." 



I have found no further notes on the wild haibiLs. 

 It is rarely imported : Russ states that three speci- 

 mens reached the London Zoological Gardens in 1877 ; 

 otherwise he knows of no other arrivals of this Si)eciea 

 in the trade. 



Rufous-bellied Bulbul {IoU madMandi]. 



Head brown, somewhat crested, the shafts of the 

 feathers bulfy white; remainder of upper surface dull 

 olive-green ; ear-coverts brownish ; chin and throat 

 white, with dusky edges to the feathers ; sides of neck, 

 breast and abdomen light chestnut or cinnamon, wit^ 

 pale centres 'to the feathers; flanks w,'i-«hed with olive; 

 thighs and under tail-coverts olive yellow, ae -also under 

 wing-coverts; bill blackish bro%vn, lower mandible 

 greyish ; feet fleshy bruwnish ; iris brownish red. No 

 difference has been indicated between the sexes; but 

 the young bird is said to be rather duller, and washed 

 with rufous on the scapulare, wing-coverts and upper 

 tail-coverts; under surface light chestnut; abdomen 

 wihitish washed with dingv olive-yellow ; lores, chin, 

 and a nioustachial line dull wlhite, with grey-brown 

 bases to the feathers. Hab., "Hill-ranges of the 

 Himalayas, ranging eastwards into Assam, the Khasia, 

 Aracan, and Tipperah hills." (Sharpe.) 



Jerdon says ("Birds of India," Vol. II., p. 80), "fre- 

 quents hig'h trees, lives chiefly on fruit, and has a loud 

 cheerful note." 



In Oates's edition of Hume's " Nestrs and Eg^s of 

 Indian Birds" (Vol. I., pp. 168-9), we read:— "The 

 Rufous-bellied Bulbul. .according to Mr. Hodgson's 

 notes, breeds in the central region of Nepal, and low 

 down nearly to the Terai, from April to June. Its 

 nest is a shallow saucer suepended between a slender 

 horizontal fork, to the twigs of which it is firmly bound 

 like an Oriole's with vegetable fibres and roots. It is 

 composed of roots and dry leaves bound together with 

 fibres, and lined with fine grass or moss-roots. The 

 bird is said to lay four eggs, but these are neither 

 figured nor des';rihed. 



Dr. Scully writes from Nepal:— "This Bulbul is 

 common throughout theyearon thehill.s round the valley 

 of Nepal, but never tenants the central woods. It is 

 generally found in bushes and bush-trees, not in high 

 tree foreit, and is commonlv seen in pairs. The breed- 

 ine season appears to be May and June. A nest was 

 taken on 6th June, which contained two fresh eggs. 

 The nest was somewhat oval in shape, measuring 3.36in. 



in length and 2.5in. across ; the egg-cavity was about 

 lin. deep in the centre, and the t;ottom of the nest 

 1.25in. thick. It was attached to a slender fork of a 

 tree, and was composed externally of ferns, dry leaves, 

 roots, grass, and a little moss, bound together with 

 fine hair-liko fibres, which were wound round the prongs 

 of the fork so as regularly to suspend the nest like an 

 Oriole's. There was a regular lining, distinct from the 

 body of the nest, composed of fine, long, yellowish 

 grass-stems, and a little cobweb was spread here and 

 there over the branches of the fork and the outside of 

 the nest. The eggs are rather long ovals, smaller at 

 one end, and fairly glossy ; they measure 1.0 by 0.7, 

 and 0.9'7 by 0.7. The ground-colour is pure pinkish 

 white, abundantly speckled and finely spotted with 

 reddish purple, the spots closely crowded together at 

 the largo end, but not confluent, forming in one egg a 

 broadish zone, and in the other a cap ; in the latter egg 

 there are a few faint underlying stains of purplish inky 

 at the large end." 



Russ notes that three examples of this Bulbul arrived 

 at our Zoological Gardens in 1877, but he appears not 

 to have heard of any other importation of the species. 

 Yellow-crowned Buljul {Trachycomus 

 ochrocc phalus). 



Above brown ; the feathers greyish towards the tips 

 and with white shaft-streaks ; these become less distinct 

 towards the lower back and almost imperceptible on 

 the rump; the feathers of the latter tinted with yel- 

 lowish olive; tail-feathers dull yellowish olive, the 

 inner webs browner ; lesser and median coverts washed 

 with ashy grey ; greater and primary coverts and flights 

 washed externally with olive-yellow ; forekead and 

 crown deep straw yellow, changing to ^shy-brown on 

 nape and hind-neck, and with white shaft-streaks; ear- 

 coverts brown, with whitish centres ; lores black ; a 

 bare space behind the eye; the eyelid, a streak from 

 the lores below the eye and another above the cheeks, 

 straw-yellow ; cheeks black ; throat dull white ; breast 

 and sides brown, washed with ashy and with white 

 shaft-streaks to the feathers, less distinct on the sides, 

 which have an olive tint ; centre of body below whity- 

 brown ; thighs deep fawn-colour; under tail-coveits 

 lighter fawn, with an olive-yellowish tinge and whitish 

 shaft-lines ; axillaries pale brown : under wing-coverts 

 more ashy, washed with olive-yellow ; flights lelow 

 dusky, with pale yellow along inner webs ; bill blac'%, 

 feet dark horn-brown ; iris brown or red. The female 

 is like the male, but smaller, and doubtless with a mere 

 .^lender bill. Hab., Southern Tenasserim and the 

 Malay peninsula to Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



Mr. C. Hose, speaking of this Bulbul as observed bv 

 him in Sarawak (The Ihi.^, 1893, p. 591), says :—" This 

 bird is common along the rivers, and is called by the 

 natives 'Maki Boyah ' or 'Alligator Bird,' a name given 

 to it from its supposed habit of anroying tha alligator." 



Beyond the fart that this species has been met with 

 1,000ft. up Mount Kina Balu, I can obtain no further 

 information respecting it. Dr. Russ does not mention 

 it in his work, although a specimen was deposited at 

 our Zoological Gardens in 1895. 



Spotted-wing [P.^aroglofsa spiloptera). 



Above pale leaden-grey speckled with brownish ; 

 upper tail-coverts washed with reddish-brown ; flights 

 and primary-coverts greenish black ; a white spot at 

 base of primaries : tail dark brown ; chin and throat 

 deep chestnut; some of the feathers with grey tips; 

 remainder of under surface white washed with" rufous 

 on abdomen and flanks; bill deep horn-brown, with 

 pale yellow edges to the mandibles, base of lower 



