1 86 CRATEROPODID^E. 



Miss Cockburn, writing from Kotagherry, says : " The Yellow- 

 browed Bulbul is common on the less elevated slopes of the 

 Nilghiris, where it is often seen feeding upon guavas, loquots, pears, 

 peaches, &c. They lay generally in April and May. 



" Their nests are constructed very much like those of the common 

 Bulbuls, except that, instead of being placed in the forked branches 

 of trees, they are suspended between two twigs, and fastened to 

 them by cobwebs, the inside being neatly lined with fine grass. Two 

 nests of this bird were found, each containing two fresh eggs, of a 

 pretty pinkish salmon colour, with a dark ring at the thick end ; but 

 another nest had three nearly ivJiite eggs ! The whole structure of 

 the nests was slight and thin, and the eggs could be plainly seen 

 through. The notes of the Yellow-browed Bulbul are loud and 

 repeated often." 



Writing on the birds of Ceylon, Colonel Legge remarks : " I 

 once found the nest of this bird in the Pasdun-Korale forests in 

 August ; little or nothing, however, is known of its breeding-habits 

 in Ceylon, so that it most likely commences earlier than that month 

 to rear its brood. My nest was placed in the fork of a thin sapling 

 about 8 feet from the ground. It was of large size for such a bird, 

 the foundation being bulky and composed of small twigs, moss, and 

 dead leaves, supporting a cup of about 2| inches in diameter, which 

 was constructed of moss, lined with fine roots ; the upper edge of 

 the body of the nest was woven round the supporting branches. 

 The bottom of the nest was in the fork." 



The eggs of this species sent to me by Mr. Wait from Coonoor 

 are totally unlike any other egg of this family with which I am 

 acquainted. They remind one more of the eggs of Stoparola 

 welanops or one of the Niltavas than anything else. The eggs are 

 moderately long and rather perfect ovals, almost devoid of gloss, 

 and with a dull white or pinkish-white ground, speckled more or 

 less thickly over the whole surface with rather pale brownish red or 

 pink. The specklings becoming confluent at the large end, where 

 they form a dull irregular mottled cap. Other specimens received 

 from Miss Cockburn from Kotagherry exhibit the same general 

 characters ; but the majority of them are considerably elongated eggs, 

 approaching, so far as shape is concerned, the Hypsipetes type. In 

 some eggs only the faintest trace of pale pinkish mottling towards 

 the large end is observable ; in others, the whole surface of the egg 

 is thickly freckled and mottled all over, but most densely at the 

 large end, with salmon-pink or pale pinkish brown. 



In length the eggs vary from O9 to 1-03, and in breadth from 0-64 



* PYCNONOTUS ANAMS (Horsf.). The Yellow-vented Bulbul. 

 Otocompsa analis (Horsf.), Hume, Cat. no. 452 sex. 



Mr. J. Darling, Junior, writes : "I found the nest of this Bulbul at Salang, 

 in the Malay peninsula, on the 14th February. The nest was built in a bush in 

 secondary jungle, with a few trees scattered about. It was in a fork 6 feet from 

 the ground. The foundation was of dried leaves, then fine twigs, and lined 



