662 The Sparrow-like Birds 



Swamp Wren, is a very shy bird found in dense swamps and tangles along 

 lagoons, where it is more often heard than seen, though its monotonous call is 

 sure to attract attention. A sight of the bird is usually momentary and generally 

 occurs in a chance manner, as it flies with feeble flight and depressed tail for a 

 few feet in a direct line and low, as it drops with a scramble into the fern of its 

 own color. It builds a deeply cup-shaped nest in the midst of a tussock of 

 grass and lays three or four dull white, closely spotted eggs. 



THE BULBULS 



(Family Pycnonotidce) 



The Bulbuls, or Fruit Thrushes, constitute a large and fairly well circum- 

 scribed group of birds, often included among the Babbling Thrushes (TimeliidcB), 

 but differing from them, among other characters, in having relatively short tarsi 

 and as a rule numerous and strong rictal bristles. Another character which 

 seems to distinguish them is the presence of a greater or less number of "hairs" 

 springing from the nape, these being frequently very long, but sometimes short 

 and inconspicuous, though never, according to Mr. Gates, entirely absent. 

 Their wings are normally short and rounded, but in some forms they are quite 

 long and pointed, and in a few the secondaries are more or less elongated, while 

 the tail is various, being commonly rounded, but sometimes it is square or 

 graduated and rarely forked. In a few forms the tail-coverts nearly equal the 

 rectrices in length, and a majority of them have the rump plumage long and 

 fluffy; crests are of frequent occurrence. "The sexes are ordinarily alike in 

 color, and the young closely resemble the adult, the brighter colors being re- 

 placed for the first few weeks by paler tints of the same." Most of them ap- 

 proximate eight or nine inches in length, while in coloration they are extremely 

 variable, the usual hues being olive-brown, olive-green, or olive-yellow, but 

 some are entirely black, others a beautiful turquoise, cobalt, or purple-blue, 

 varied with crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow, rufous, etc. 



The Bulbuls are for the most part gregarious and sociable birds of arboreal 

 habits, frequenting gardens, orchards, bushy jungles, and forests, and while 

 some of them may have rather harsh chattering or croaking notes, the majority 

 possess a very melodious and cheerful song, which renders them familiar and 

 welcome neighbors. Thus the Madras Bulbul (Molpastes fuscus), a fearless 

 and very sprightly bird, often locates itself in close proximity to houses, not in- 

 frequently building its nest in verandas, where it becomes a universal favorite, 

 and from its exceedingly sweet song is known as the Ceylon Nightingale. The 

 food of these birds consists mainly of fruits, berries, and seeds, varied occa- 

 sionally with insects, which are secured among the leaves and branches of trees, 

 as they rarely, some of them never, visit the ground; their nests and eggs are 

 variable, as will be shown under the few species selected for mention. 



White-throated Bulbuls. The Pycnonotidce have their center of distribu- 

 tion in southeastern Asia, whence they extend to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and 



