passerine birds of ceylon. 55 



Hypsipetes psaroides ganeesa. 

 Southern Indian Black Bulhul. 

 Hypsipetes ganeesa (Oates, Vol. I., p. 262 ; Legge, p. 469). 



Description. — -Lores, forehead, crown, and nape glossy- 

 black, with a greenish lustre in freshly moulted specimens, 

 the feathers longish ; hind-neck, back, rump, and upper tail 

 coverts dull bluish-gray with darker shaft streaks ; Avings and 

 tail dull brown, the wing coverts and inner wing quills edged 

 with the blue-gray of the back ; cheeks, throat, chest, and 

 under parts slaty-gray, paler on the abdomen, and darker 

 on the cheeks and chin, which are tinged with ashy- 

 brown. 



Bill coral red ; iris orange or reddish ; legs and feet yellowish- 

 red. 



Length 9 • 75 ; wing 4 • 7 ; tail -i • 7 ; tarsus • 8 ; bill from 

 gape 1 "2. 



Distribution. — Common in the well -wooded parts of the low- 

 countiy damp zone and on the hills, but rarely met with in the 

 drier forest tracts. It appears to visit the highest elevations 

 in the dry weather. 



The sub-species found in Ceylon is also met with on the 

 Malabar hills. Allied sub-species occur on the Himalaj'as, in 

 Assam, and parts of Burma. 



Habits. — Out of the breeding season this Bulbul is generally 

 found in noisy flocks, feeding on fruits and berries at the top 

 of tall trees in forest and jungle. Its most frequent calls are 

 described by Legge as resembling the sounds " tehee " and 

 " zu, kink up." 



The breeding season is from January to about April. The 

 nest is a rather untidy cup of dead leaves, rood's, and moss 

 placed in a fork of a branch generally at some height; from the 

 ground. There are usually only two eggs of a whitish ground 

 colour thickly speckled with red and purplish-gray. Average 

 size 1-03 by -72. 



