MICROLARSUS. 423 
Of the three species found within our limits it is extremely 
difficult to decide what relationship JZ. m. melanocephalus and 
M. cinereoventris bear to one another. It is true the former is 
often found in flocks with no individual of the latter but neither 
Mr. H. A. Hole, who knew this bird very weli, nor I myself have 
ever seen a flock of the latter without some of the former. ‘The 
plumage of the Grey-breasted Bulbul is merely that of the Black- 
headed Bulbul with the yellow eliminated on some portions and 
this in varying degree. One of Lord Tweeddale’s birds is 
described by him as being ‘‘in a stage of transition from yellow 
to grey.” A specimen in the collection of Mr. Hole showed traces 
of green on the hind-neck but was otherwise of purely cimereco- 
ventris type; a third, a young male shot by myself, appears also 
to be ina transition stage between the two forms. IL expect, when 
the necessary evidence is obtainable, the two wi!! be found to be 
one and the same bird. Age and sex have nothing to do with 
the matter, but no one has yet been able to prove that they breed 
together, however closely they may accompany one another in the 
non-breeding season. 
Key to Species and Subspecies. 
A. Lower plumage yellow or  olive- 
yellow. (cephalus, p. 425. 
@, ‘lead entirely black. «2.7.4.5. « M. melanocephalus melano- 
b. Head above bluish grey. 
a’. Upper tail-coverts yellow .... JL m. fuserflavescens, p. 425. 
b'. Upper tail-coverts bluish grey . MM. povocephalus, p. 425. 
B. Lower plumage bluish grey ...... M. cinereoventris, p. 426. 
(439) Microtarsus melanocephalus melanocephalus. 
THE BLACK-HEADED BULBUL, 
Lanius melanocephalus Gmel., S. N., i, p. 809 (1788) (Sandwich in 
mares australis). 
Micropus melanocephalus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 294. 
Vernacular names. Duo-bulip-garasha (Cachari). 
Description. Whole head, threat and upper breast black, glossed 
with blue and purple; remainder of upper plumage olive-yellow, 
brighter on the rump and yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; breast 
and flanks the same, shading into bright yellow on the abdomen 
and under tail-coverts; tail olive-yellow for half its length, then 
black and tipped with yellow, narrowly on the centre feathers and 
increasingly broadly on the others; primary-coverts dull black, 
narrowly edged with olive-yellow, other coverts wholly of this 
colour on the outer webs; primaries and outer secondaries black, 
the first obsoletely, the latter broadly, edged with olive-yellow ; 
the visible inner secondaries all olive-yellow; the feathers of the 
rump and upper tail-coverts are very dark grey at the base and 
then black, the tips alone being broadly yellow so that the rump 
nearly always appears barred with black, though in a perfect 
specimen the rump looks almost immaculate vellow. 
