BABBLERS. 513 



Assigned by many ornithologists to a distinct family, Pycno- 

 notidce, the true bulbuls, together with the green bulbuls (Chlor- 

 opsis), are regarded by Mr. Gates as not entitled to be separated from the babblers ; 

 the green bulbuls belonging to one subfamily of this great assemblage, and the 

 true bulbuls to another. The subfamily (Liotrichince) containing the green bulbuls 

 presents the following characters : The sexes are unlike, the birds being either 

 solitary or associating only in small parties; while their habits are entirely 

 arboreal, their plumage brilliant, and their eggs generally spotted. The green 



GOLD-FRONTED GREEN BULBUL AND RED-BILLED LIOTHRIX. 



bulbuls are characterised by the possession of a slender curved bill equalling 

 the head in length, the tip being notched, and the nostrils oval; the wing is 

 rounded, the tail is short and square, and the feet are short and weak. The 

 birds of this group are only found in Southern and South-Eastern Asia, seven 

 species occurring within the Indian Empire. One of the best known is the gold- 

 fronted green bulbul (Chloropsis aurifrons), which forms an excellent cage-bird. 

 Feeding upon the insects which it picks off the surfaces of leaves, this bird is 

 exceedingly difficult to detect amid a profusion of foliage, since its bright 

 grass-green plumage harmonises closely with the green leaves ; it lives in pairs or 

 singly. Its range extends over a considerable portion of Bengal and the adjacent 

 States, as well as British Burma and an outlying portion of the spurs of the 

 Himalaya. Jerdon states that it has a sweet song, and is also an excellent 

 VOL. in. 33 



