BULBULS. lOI 



a bath ; they are when healthy scrupulously clean, and their 

 plumage, though soft in texture, is kept beautifully unsoiled : 

 with my Persian bird I made the mistake of confining it in too 

 small a cage, the latter was of the box variety one foot across the 

 front, i8 inches high and iS inches from front to back, with one 

 perch high up towards the back, and a second low down towards 

 the front : in a larger cage and with a greater amount of fruit to 

 eat I feel sure I should have been able to keep it for more than 

 five years, although perhaps it might have been less confiding 

 than it was. I have had my first male Chinese Bulbul for close 

 upon thirteen years already and it is still vigorous. 



And this brings me to the question of food : — as a staple 

 any good insectivorous food mixed with breadcrumbs and moist- 

 ened is suitable, but Btilbuls are very fond of sweets and sponge- 

 cake either dry or moistened, or Madeira cake delights them 

 greatly, candied fruit also and especially apricot, gives them 

 great pleasure. They ought to have plenty of fresh ripe fruit in 

 variety — banana, sweet ripe pear or apple, orange or ripe fig and 

 grapes, althotigh they seem to care less for these than many other 

 insectivorotis birds do and sometimes leave them untotiched. 



Insects are ustially acceptable but especially smooth cater- 

 pillars, mealworms are also eaten with pleasure, but spiders 

 alone are able to arouse enthusiasm in these birds, sometimes 

 stimulating them to a song of rejoicing. Although most insects 

 are eaten with satisfaction (cockroaches are almost invariably 

 ignored), I do not find them a necessary item in the food for 

 adult Bulbuls ; they will keep in perfect health for months to- 

 gether without them. Of course if a Bulbul gets in the least out 

 of sorts, a few spiders will generally set it right in a daj' or two. 



These birds are very pugnacious ; indeed, as Jerdon tells 

 us, the Madras Bulbul is kept for fighting by the natives in the 

 Carnatic, and he says : — " They fight sometimes with great spirit, 

 often, I am assured, seizing their antagonist by the red feathers, 

 and endeavouring to pull them out." In 1904, our late Editor 

 Mr. Seth-Smith gave me a second example of the Chinese 

 Bulbul, which, from its stouter build and duller colouring, we 

 thought might be a hen ; I turned it into the flight-cage with 

 my cock bird and the latter at once attacked it furiously, so that 



