XXIII 

 BULBULS' NESTS I 



IN May, 1911, a pair of red- whiskered bulbuls 

 (Otocompsa emeria) took up their residence in 

 my verandah at Fyzabad, that is to say, they 

 spent the greater part of the day there in con- 

 structing a nest in a croton plant. The nest of the 

 bulbul is a shallow cup, formed of bast, roots, twigs, 

 and grass, loosely worked together. Sometimes dead 

 leaves, pieces of rag and other oddments are woven 

 into the fabric of the nest. The pair of bulbuls of which 

 I write did not, however, indulge in any of these 

 luxuries ; they were content with a rudely constructed 

 nursery. When the nest was nearly complete the 

 owners deserted it. Why they acted thus I have not 

 been able to discover. 



The bulbuls absented themselves for a few days. 

 When they returned they frequented another portion of 

 the verandah, and their fussiness betrayed the fact that 

 they were working at another nest. Several days passed 

 before I found time to look for their nest, and I then 

 discovered it in an aralia plant growing in the verandah, 

 in a large pot placed at the right-hand side of one of 

 the doors leading into my office room. The site chosen 

 was the more remarkable in that it was within ten feet 



