414 PYCNONOTID®. 
and measuring between 23°3x16°5 mm. and 20:8 x 15:5 mm. 
They breed in June. 
Habits. These do not differ in any way from those of the last 
bird. 
(429) Pycnonotus melanicterus. 
THe Briack-capPpED BULBUL. 
Muscicapa melanictera Gmel., S. N., 1, p. 941 (1789) (Ceylon). 
Pycnonotus melanicterus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 288. 
Vernacular names. Aa-/arulla (Ceylon). 
Description. Head to neck above black; remaining upper 
plumage aud wing-coverts olive-green; quills brown, their outer 
webs olive-green ; tail dark brown, the central pair suffused with 
olive-green on the base and the others all tipped with white ; 
whole lower plumage bright yellow, the sides of the breast and 
flanks washed with olive; under wing-coverts and edge of wing 
yellow. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright to dull red; bill black; legs 
and feet dark blackish brown to practically black. In the female 
the iris is brown and the “legs and feet deep plumbeous or 
blackish blue ’’ (Legge). 
Measurements. Total length about 160 to 165 mm.; wing 68 
to 74 mm.; tail about 60 to 65 mm.; tarsus about 15 mm.; 
culmen about 13 mm. 
Distribution. Ceylon only. 
Nidification. The nest is a small cup of dead leaves, fine twigs 
and grasses, stems of plants and roots firmly bound together and 
lined with fine dead grass. It is placed in a bush, creeper or 
other cover at from 3 to 10 feet from the ground, generally, 
however, within 4 or 5 feet. Legge records its nest from 
April to September and eggs have been taken by Messrs. Stewart, 
Phillips and Sykes between January and May, so that it probably 
breeds in almost any month of the year. The nest is nearly 
always placed in forest, that which is rather thin being preferred 
to that which is very dense. 
The eggs, of which there are either two or three, have a reddish- 
white ground-colour and are profusely covered with small blotches 
of various shades of reds and red-browns underlying whieh are 
sparser secondary markings of neutral tint ana lavender-grey. 
Six eggs average 21:2 15-6 mm.. The texture is not nearly so 
smooth as in most Bulbuls’ eggs and is very dull and glossless. 
Habits. This beautiful little Bulbul is found from the plains 
up to about 5,000 feet, wherever there is forest or the country is 
well-wooded and wet. It is not found in the dry zone and 
prefers above all lightly forested valleys along which streams run. 
It feeds on insects and seeds which it seeks in the lower bushes 
and trees, seldom wandering into the higher ones. It consorts in 
