424 PYCNONOTID &. 
Colours of soft parts. Irides various shades of pale blue; bill 
very dark plumbeons, nearly black ; mouth and gape bluish, some- 
times tinged fleshy; legs dark plumbeous, claws black. 
Measurements. Length about 175 mm.; wing 80 to 86mm.; 
tail about 84 mm.; tarsus about 13 mm.; culmen about 13 to 
14 mm. 
Distribution. Assam, South of the Brahmaputra and Eastern 
Bengal hill-traets, Arrakan, Chin Hills, practically the whole of 
Burma, Shan States, Siam and the whole Malay Peninsula to 
Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines. 
Nidification. This Bulbul breeds round Amherst from February 
to April and in North Cachar in May, making a very strongly- 
built cup-shaped nest, which it places in low bushes in evergreen, 
humid forests from the level of the plains up to 2,000 or 
3,000 feet. The materials of the nests I have personally seen 
have consisted principally of the tough but fine stems of a wild 
bean. With these are twigs, dead leaves and grass blades and the 
whole is securely wound round the supporting twigs. The lining 
is of skeleton leaves and grass stems. The eggs number two or 
three and, like all those of this genus, are easily distinguished from 
other Bulbuls’ eggs. The ground-colour is a pale fleshy-pink to a 
hilae-pink and the primary markings consist of freckles, specks 
and small blotches of pale reddish, whilst the secondary, or 
underlying, markings are of pale grey or pale lilac neutral tint. 
The latter markings are generally more numerous than the 
former and give the dominant tint to the egg. Some eggs have 
the marks so fine and so numerous that they look unicoloured 
but most eggs have them more numerous at the big end than 
elsewhere, forming a pronounced ring or cap. The average of seven 
of my own eggs and six of Mr. J. M. D. Mackenzie’s is 20°5x 
15°5 mm. and the extremes are 23°0x16°6, 19°70 15:5, and 
20'°5X15'0 mm. The surface is fine and glossy and the shell 
fragile. In shape they vary as much as the eggs of Otocompsa and 
Molpastes. 
Habits. This is a purely forest Bulbul, though in the cold 
weather it may be found in small or big flocks feeding on trees 
well away from forest, especially when these are in flower and 
attracting many insects. It prefers scattered forest or light 
jungle and was most common in the ravines running from the 
foot-hills into the plains of Cachar and Sylhet. These ravines 
were heavily forested, running between grass-covered hills 
and light forest where the birds came out to feed in the morn- 
ings and evenings. It keeps almost entirely to the tops of 
high trees in the cold weather but in the breeding season descends 
to the smaller trees and undergrowth. Their ordinary note is a 
musical chirp but they also have a very mournful double whistle 
like the rainy-weather call of the Iora, but deeper and softer. 
They feed principally on berries and fruit but also eat small 
