414 PYCNOXOTIDJE. 



and measuring between 23*3 x 16-5 mm. and 20-8 x 15-5 mm. 

 They breed in June. 



Habits. These do not differ in any way from those of the last 

 bird. 



(429) Pycnonotus melanicterus. 

 THE BLACK-CAPPED BULBUL. 



Muscicapa melanictera Grnel., S. N., i, p. 941 (1789) (Ceylon). 

 Pycnonotus melanicterus. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 288. 



Vernacular names. Ka-lcarulla (Ceylon). 



Description. Head to neck above black: remaining upper 

 plumage and wing-coverts olive-green; quills brown, their outer 

 webs olive-green ; tail dark brown, the central pair suffused with 

 olive-green on the base and the others all tipped with white ; 

 whole lower plumage bright yellow, the sides of the breast and 

 flanks washed with olive ; under wing-coverts and edge of wing 

 yellow. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris bright to dull red ; bill black ; legs 

 and feet dark blackish brown to practically black. In the female 

 the iris is brown and the "legs and feet deep plumbeous or 

 blackish blue " (Legye). 



Measurements. Total length about 160 to 165 mm.; wing 68 

 to 74mm.; tail about 60 to 65 mm.; tarsus about 15mm.; 

 culmen about 13 mm. 



Distribution. Ceylon only. 



Nidification. The nest is a small cup of dead leaves, fine twigs 

 and grasses, stems of plants and roots firmly bound together and 

 lined with fine dead grass. It is placed in a bush, creeper or 

 other cover at from 3 to 10 feet from the ground, generally, 

 however, within 4 or 5 feet. Legge records its nest from 

 April to September and eggs have been taken by Messrs. Stewart, 

 Phillips and Sykes between January and May, so that it probably 

 breeds in almost any month of the year. The nest is nearly 

 always placed in forest, that which is rather thin being preferred 

 to that which is very dense. 



The eggs, of which there are either two or three, have a reddish- 

 white ground-col our and are profusely covered with small blotches 

 of various shades of reds and red-browns underlying which are 

 sparser secondary markings of neutral tint and lavender-gvey. 

 Six eggs average 21*2 x 15*6 mra. The texture is not nearly so 

 smooth as in most Bulbuls' eggs and is very dull and glossless. 



Habits. This beautiful little Bulbul is found from the plains 

 up to about 5,000 feet, wherever there is forest or the country is 

 well-wooded and wet. It is not found in the dry zone and 

 prefers above all lightly forested valleys along which streams run. 

 It feeds on insects and seeds which it seeks in the lower bushes 

 and trees, seldom wandering into the higher ones. It consorts in 



