THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



153 



Sydney, but the majority are from the 

 Lane ('(jve River and the Northern 

 Suburbs. My firet aeciuaintanoe with 

 the Bulbul was early in December, 1921, 

 when I was walking down, the North- 

 wood Road; hearing a strange whistle 

 above me, I looked up and saw this uni- 

 que and very trim looking bird perched 

 on a telephone wire. I have since seen 

 several of them in the same locality'. 

 In fact I saw a flock of three pairs on 

 12th January, 1922, quite close to my 

 home at Northwood. 



NEST^ EGGS, AND YOUNG. 



The Bulbul has been found nesting at 

 Gladesville, and the nest, which is small 

 and cup shaped, but rough, and com- 

 posed of small twigs and leaves, is gene- 

 rally built in small shrubs i-ather than 

 in trees. The eggs are usually three in 

 number and are pinkish white, marked 

 with shades of red. 



The young do not develop the distinc- 

 tive red tufts until about three months 

 old. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



The range of this bird, previous to its 

 coming to Australia was . mainly Asiatic, 

 from India, through the Himalayas to 

 Bengal, Assam, and Burma to the ex- 

 treme southern part of Tenas?erim. It 

 extends to China, Siam and the Malay 

 Archipelago, but was introduced to the 

 Nicobars, and Mauritius. 



IS IT FRIEND OR FOE? 



The question immediately arises as to 

 its liabits; so many of our introduced 

 birds have made a nuisance of themselves 

 that it would be both interesting and 

 useful to gather as much information 

 as possible about the habits of the bul- 

 bul in this country, and I would ask all 

 who come in contact with it to note care- 

 fully any of its peculiarities, and es- 

 pecially what its food consists of. This 

 bird, which is well known in and around 

 Indian gardens and farms, feeds mainly 

 upon insects, but occasionally takes to 

 fruit, thus opening up a field for thought 

 and observation. 



The bird seems to be increasing very 

 rapidly in numbers, and now is the time 



The redwhiskered bulbul, Otocompsa cineria, 

 an Indian bird accidentally introduced into 

 Australia. It is becoming very numerous in 

 and around Sydney, and should be watched 

 very carefully as to its feeding habits. 



Photo. — J. K. Kinghorn. 



for us to decide whether it is going to 

 be friend or foe. As far as we know, 

 in other countries it seems to be harm- 

 less in some localities, but a pest in 

 others, and it has come to us with rather 

 mixed references. If it turns out to be 

 a pest the necessary steps to check its 

 progress can be taken in good time, and, 

 if it proves to be a friend, we can have 

 it placed on the protected list under the 

 Birds and Animcds Protection Act. 



As T stated before, reports have come 

 hi from many of the Sydney suburbs as- 

 to its presence, but all reports say that 

 it is very shy and nervous, so that ob- 

 servation is thereby rendered very dif- 

 ficult. This seems to be a great point 

 in its favoiu', because circumstantial evi- 

 dence, amongst the smaller birds at least, 



