176 CRATEKOPODIDvE. 



externally composed of fine stems of some herbaceous plant and a 

 few blades of grass, and internally lined with very fine hair-like 

 grass. The nests may measure externally, at most, 4 inches in 

 diameter ; but the egg-cavity, which is in proportion very large and 

 deep, is fully 2J inches across by If inch deep. As I before said, 

 the nest is usually very slightly and loosely put together, so that it 

 is difficult to remove it without injury; but sometimes they are 

 more substantial, and occasionally the cup is much shallower and 

 wider than I have above described. Four is the full complement 

 of eggs. 



Captain Unwin says : "I found a nest containing three fresh 

 eggs near the village of Jaskote, in the Agrore Valley, on the 

 24th April, 1870. The nest was placed about 5 feet from the 

 ground in a small wild ber-tree in a watercourse. On the 7th May 

 I found another nest placed in a small thick cheer-tree in the same 

 valley, which contained four eggs." 



From Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall tells us that this 

 species " breeds in the valleys, at about 4000 or 5000 feet up, in 

 the end of June. Lays four eggs with a white ground, very thickly 

 blotched with claret-red ; nest roughly made of grass and roots, in 

 low bushes." 



About Simla and the valleys of the Sutlej and Beas 1 have found 

 it common, and my experience of its nidification in these localities 

 has been above recorded. 



From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton wrote that it is " common in 

 the Dhoon throughout the year, and in the hills during the summer. 

 It breeds in April and May. The nest is neat and cup-shaped, 

 placed in the forks of bushes or pollard trees, and is composed 

 externally of the dried stalks of forget-me-not, lined with fine 

 grass-stalks. Eggs three or four, rosy or faint purplish white, 

 thickly sprinkled with specks and spots of darker rufesceut purple or 

 claret colour. Sometimes the outside of the nest is composed of fine 

 dried stalks of woody plants, whose roughness causes them to 

 adhere together." 



Mr. W. E. Brooks remarks : " I found this bird common at 

 Almorah, and procured several nests. They were placed in a bush 

 or small tree, and were slightly composed of fine grass, roots, and 

 fibres : eggs three ; ground-colour purplish white, speckled all over, 

 most densely at the larger end, with spots and blotches of purple- 

 brown and purplish grey : laying in Kurnaon from the beginning 

 of May to June." 



Dr. Scully states that in Nepal this Bulbul " breeds in May and 

 June, principally at elevations of from 5000 to 6000 feet. Its 

 nests were secured on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 14th, and 28th June ; the 

 usual number of eggs laid seems to be three." 



Colonel G. F. L. Marshall writes : " This species breeds both at 

 Nairn Tal (7000 feet) and at Bheem Tal (4000 feet). In Kumaon 

 the eggs seem to be laid in the first half of June ; the earliest date 

 I have taken them was a single fresh egg on the 23rd May, and the 

 latest, four eggs on the 25th June : the nest is seldom more than 



