418 PTCNONOTID^E. 



Distribution. The Peninsula of India, from Baroda on the 

 "West arid Midnapore on the East down to Cape Comorin ; 

 Ceylon. Rare or absept on the Deccan table-land and throughout 

 the Central Provinces. 



Nidiftcation. This bird breeds very commonly in Ceylon, the 

 West coast of South India and again in West Bengal and parts 

 of Orissa. The nest is not, I think, distinguishable from that 

 of Otocompsa but is on the average more untidy, flimsy and 

 unfinished. The sites selected are low, thick bushes in scrub- 

 jungle, the outskirts of forest and partly cultivated country and 

 the nest is seldom more than 4 feet from the ground. Hume 

 says the eggs are unlike those of Molpattes or Otocompsa. Whilst, 

 however, richly marked, handsome eggs such as are so often 

 obtained of Molpastes are very rare in this species, the eggs as 

 a series are like weakly marked, rather long-shaped eggs of that 

 bird. Normally only two eggs are laid, sometimes three, and 

 the average of sixty eggs is 22-9x15-8 mm., the extremes being 

 25-5 x 15-6, 24-6 x 17'0, 19'0 X 15'6 and 23-8 x 15'0 ram. 



The birds lay in almost every month of the year in Ceylon but 

 chiefly in February and March, whilst in Bombay they lay from 

 April to July. 



Habits. The White-browed Bulbul is a bird neither of actual 

 forest nor of compounds and gardens. It prefers scrub- and bush- 

 jungle, thin rather than dense, the outskirts of forest and country 

 which is partly cultivated and partly wooded. It does not enter 

 gardens but may be seen in the vicinity of villages. It is found 

 only in the plains and lower hills. 



Pycnonotus plumosus. 



The birds of this species are spread over a very wide area 

 through East and South Burma, the Malay Peninsula and many 

 of the islands and again East through Siam, Yunnan, Annam, 

 etc. There are three races separable but they do not occupy 

 very well-defined areas and it is not easy to say exactly where 

 P. p. blanfordi and P. p. 'plumosus meet. Between P. p. robinsoni 

 and P. p. plumosus I cannot fix anything definite but throughout 

 the Northern Peninsula they probably represent Eastern and 

 Western races. They may eventually have to be treated as 

 species. 



Key to Subspecies. 



A. Ear-coverts brown with silvery-white stripes. P. plumosus plumows, 



B. Ear-coverts entirely silvery-white. [p. 419. 



a. Paler both above and below P.p. blanfordi^. 420. 



b. Darker both above and below P.p. robinsoni, p. 420. 



