BULBULS 231 



If you go from Madras to the Punjab you will there 

 meet with a bulbul which you will take for the same 

 species as the bulbul you left behind in Madras. But 

 if you look up the birds in an ornithological text-book 

 you will find that they belong to different species. 

 The Punjab bulbul is known as Molpastes intermedius, 

 while the Madras bird is called M. hamorrhous. The 

 only difference in appearance between the two species 

 is that in the Madras bird the black of the head does 

 not extend to the neck, whereas in the Punjab bird 

 it does. Similarly, there is a Burmese, a Tenasserim, 

 a Chinese, and a Bengal red-vented bulbul. 



Now, I regard all these different bulbuls as local 

 races of one species, which might perhaps be called 

 Molpastes indicus ; and I think that I am justified in 

 holding this view by the fact that the bulbuls you come 

 across at Lucknow do not fit in with the description of 

 any of these so-called species. The reason is that the 

 Bengal and the Madras races meet at Lucknow, and of 

 course interbreed. The result is a cross between the 

 two races. 



In addition to the above there are some Molpastes 

 which have white cheeks and a yellow patch under the 

 tail. In all, nine or ten Indian " species " of Molpastes 

 have been described. 



The same applies in a lesser degree to Otocompsa. 

 This is a widely distributed species, but is not so plastic 

 as Molpastes. There is the Bengal red-whiskered bulbul 

 (Otocompsa emeria\ which is distinguishable from the 

 southern variety (O . fuscicaudatd) by having white tips 

 to the tail feathers, and the dark necklace interrupted 



