BABBLERS AND BULBULS 91 



days, and the young birds are so quickly developed 

 as to be able to leave the nest a week after they 

 are hatched. They remain, however, for a time 

 in its immediate neighbourhood, sedulously attended 

 by their proud parents, who in their anxiety utter 

 peculiar high-pitched notes, very unlike their 

 common jubilant cries of " did you, did you, do it." 

 It is not uncommon for only two of the three eggs 

 to hatch out, and in such cases the third one, after 

 having been given a fair chance of showing its 

 intentions, is ejected from the nest. The nests are 

 usually placed in shrubs in the open, but now and 

 then are to be met with in creepers trained on walls, 

 or in dense pot-plants, such as Panax or crowded ferns. 

 The other common bulbuls, Molpastes bengalensis, 1 

 are coarser, commoner-looking birds than Otocompsas, 

 but have many of their alluring ways ; and their 

 plumage, when looked at closely, shows very special 

 beauty in the delicate edges of grey and white 

 that border many of the feathers. Like several of 

 their relatives, they are great favourites as pets with 

 the natives of India, one of their special attractions 

 being their ready pugnacity. One often meets a 

 man going out for a morning or evening stroll, 

 carrying a bulbul on the top of a little crutched 

 stick, and, in the case of people of wealth, the 

 perch is often composed of valuable materials, such 

 as jade or one of the precious metals. Like 



1 It is a little larger than 0. emeria. 



