398 



Mahanadi, Eastern Bengal, hills and plains South of the Brahma- 

 putra, Burma, Siam, Shan States, Yunnan. In Peninsular Siam 

 ,-ind Burma it is replaced by the next form. 



Nidification. This Yellow Bulbul makes a nest much like that 

 of the two genera last described, but deeper and better built and 

 nearly always made of tan-coloured materials amongst which 

 dead leaves are always prominent. The lining is of fine grass- 

 stems, occasionally of fine moss roots or similar material, whilst 

 one nest was lined with mithna (Bos frontalis) hair. They breed 

 most numerously in May and June but eggs are laid almost any time 

 between early March and late August or even early September. 

 The full clutch numbers two to four and the eggs differ from 

 those of the other species of Otocompsa in being more profusely 

 stippled and speckled all over with very fine markings varying in 

 colour from reddish- or creamy-pink to deep purple-red or red- 

 br;-n. 100 eggs average 22'3xl6 < 5mm. and vary in length 

 between 24'2 X 16-4 and 20'5 X 16'8 mm. and in breadth between 

 21-9 x 17-2 and 23-1 x 15-3 mm. 



Habits. In its actions, flight and food this bird is a true 

 Otocompsa but it is often found in light scrub- and bamboo-jungle 

 and sometimes on the outskirts of. deep forest. In Assam it 

 frequents the vicinity of the hill villages, cover of any kind in and 

 around patches of cultivation and open places near roads and 

 streams. It collects in the cold weather in flocks of half-a-dozen 

 to a score or more individuals and frequents indifferently scrub, 

 bushfs, bamboos and high trees. They eat both insects and fruit 

 and I have seen them on the ground eating wild strawberries and 

 also feeding on termites as they came up from the ground. They 

 are, for Bulbuls, not noisy birds and their song, which may be 

 written " weet-tre-trippy-wit," with the last three syllables 

 repeated twice or more, forms a rather sweet though jerky little 

 song. They are found commonly up to 3,500 feet and rarely up 

 to 5,000. 



(414) Otocompsa flaviventris minor. 

 KLOSS' s BLACK-HEADED YELLOW BULBUL. 



Otocompsa flaviventris minor Kloss, Ibis, 1918, p. 200 (Koh Lak, 

 S.W. Siam). 



Description. " Smaller than 0. fl. jlaviventris (Tickell) of Chota 

 JS'agpur ; wing 83 mm. or less " (Kloss). 



Distribution. Peninsular Burma and Siam and throughout the 

 Malay Peninsula. 



[t is only alter some hesitation that I have accepted this form. 

 It certainly averages smaller, but the smallest Malay bird and the 

 smallest bird from Assam both have a wing of 77 mm. On the 

 other hand, Kloss's minor seems also to be a trifle darker and to 

 have a decidedly shorter crest. 



Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded. 



