MICEOTAKSUS. 423 



Of the three species found within our limits it is extremely 

 difficult to decide what relationship M. m. melanocephalus and 

 M. cinereoventris bear to one another. It is true the former is 

 often found in flocks with no individual of the latter but neither 

 Mr. H. A. Hole, who knew this bird very well, nor I myself have 

 ever seen a flock of the latter without some of the former. The 

 plumage of the Grey-breasted Bulbul is merely that of the Black- 

 headed Bulbul with the yellow eliminated on some portions and 

 this in varying degree. One of Lord Tweeddale's birds is 

 described by him as being "in a stage of transition from yellow 

 to grey." A specimen in the collection of Mr. Hole showed traces 

 of green on the hind-neck but was otherwise of purely cinereo- 

 ventris type ; a third, a young male shot by myself, appears also 

 to be in a transition stage between the two forms. I expect, when 

 the necessary evidence is obtainable, the two will be found to be 

 one and the same bird. Age and sex have nothing to do with 

 the matter, but no one has yet been able to prove that they breed 

 together, houever closely they may accompany one another in the 

 non-breeding season. 



Key to Species and Subspecies. 



A. Lower plumage yellow or olive- 



yellow, [cephalus, p. 423. 



a. Head entirely black M. melanocephalus melano- 



b. Head above bluish grey. 



'. Upper tail-coverts yellow .... M. m, fusciflavescens, p. 425. 

 b'. Upper tail-coverts bluish grey . M. potocephalus, p. 425. 



B. Lower plumage bluish grey M. cinereoventris, p. 426. 



(439) Microtarsus melanocephalus melanocephalus. 

 THE BLACK-HEADED BULBFL. 



Lanius melanocephalus Gmel., S. N., i, p. 309 (1788) (Sandwich in 



mares australis). 

 Micropus melanocephalus. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 294. 



Vernacular names. Dao-bulip-garasha (Cachari). 



Description. Whole head, throat and upper breast black, glossed 

 with blue and purple ; remainder of upper plumage olive-yellow, 

 brighter on the rump and yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; breast 

 and flanks the same, shading into bright yellow on the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts ; tail olive-yellow for half its length, then 

 black and tipped with yellow, narrowly on the centre feathers and 

 increasingly broadly on the others; primary-coverts dull black, 

 narrowly edged with olive-yellow, other coverts wholly of this 

 colour on the outer webs ; primaries and outer secondaries black, 

 the first obsoletely, the latter broadly, edged with olive-yellow ; 

 the visible inner secondaries all olive-yellow ; the feathers of the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts are very dark grey at the base and 

 then black, the tips alone being broadly yellow so that the rump 

 nearly always appears barred with black, though in a perfect 

 specimen the rump looks almost immaculate vellow. 



