164 CEATEEOPOBID^E. 



like vegetable fibres. What these are I do not know, but they 

 are precisely like horsehair to look at, only they are comparatively 

 brittle. The contrast of colour between the jet-black lining and 

 the rich brown of the lip of the saucer, which is constant in all 

 the nests, is very striking. 



The eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Mandelli, obtained by 

 him in Sikhim at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet in July 

 and the early part of August, possess a very distinctive character. 

 They are broad ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and they 

 are more glossy than the eggs of any other of this family with 

 which I am acquainted. The ground-colour is pink. The mark- 

 ings consist of curious hair-line scratches, clouded blotches, and 

 irregular spots in some eggs all very hazy and ill-defined, in others 

 more scratchy and sharp. The great majority of the markings 

 seem to be gathered together into an irregular and imperfect zone 

 round the large end. In colour the markings vary from a deep 

 brownish maroon to a dull brickdust-red, sometimes they are 

 slightly more purplish. In some eggs a few faint clouds or small 

 spots of subsurface-looking dusky purple may be noticed mingled 

 with the rest of the markings. 



These eggs are totally unlike the eggs of Criniyer ictericus. I have 

 never had an opportunity of verifying the eggs myself, but as three 

 different nests have now been taken, all containing precisely similar 

 eggs, I believe there can be no doubt of their authenticity. 



269. Hypsipetes psaroides, Vigors. The Himalayan Black Bulbul. 



Hypsipetes psaroides (Vig.}, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 77; Hume, Rouyh 

 Draft N. E. no. 444. 



The Himalayan Black Bulbul breeds throughout the outer and 

 lower ranges of the Himalayas, at any rate from Bhootan to 

 Afghanistan, at elevations varying from 2000 to 6000 feet. 



They lay mostly in May and June, but eggs may occasionally 

 be met with during the latter half of April. 



The nest of Hypsipetes psaroides is usually made of rather coarse- 

 bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves, and more or 

 less moss incorporated, and lined with very fine grass-stems and 

 roots of moss. A good deal of spider's web is often used exteriorly 

 to bind the nest together, or attach it more firmly to the fork in 

 which it rests. Its general shape is a moderately deep cup, the 

 cavity measuring some 2| inches in diameter by 1| inch in depth. 

 The sides, into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, vary 

 from an inch to a couple of inches in thickness. The bottom, 

 loosely put together, is rarely more than from a quarter to half an 

 inch in depth. It appears to be generally placed on the fork of a 

 branch, at a moderate height from the ground. 



Four is the normal number of eggs, but I have more than once 

 found three partially incubated eggs in a nest. 



From Darjeeling Mr. Grammie remarks : " A nest of this bird, 

 which I took on the 17th June, at a height of nearly 50 feet from 



