382 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
searching for insects, and I have never seen them come down to the ground. 
They have an unmistakable squeaking note and often a large flock is very noisy 
and can be heard quite a long way off. I have occasionally found them 
at dusk roosting on the thorny bushes. The males are very fond of sitting 
up at the top of a bush, elevating their black crests and jerking their tails 
up and down, and while creeping about a bush their tails are constantly 
being moved. When sitting on the alert they are very conspicuous on the 
tip-tops of a thorny leafless bush, their long bodies held straight up, tails 
down and head and neck rather stretched up in a position of alertness and 
attention. Frightened they suddenly wheel off at a tremendous pace, all 
going off at the same instant. The flocks consist of six to twenty individuals.” 
Concerning their habits in the breeding season, Cheesman, who found a colony 
at Sera on the Tigris in scrub jungle, says the pairs often pack into a flock ; 
on settling, their call, actions and appearance were similar to those of a Babbler 
and pairs often indulge in love flights, flying round 100 to 150 feet up in the air. 
They were building in the scrub on May Ist and he found a nest in a low bush 
two feet from the ground in open scrub; the nest, which was being built of coarse 
grass stems, was in the centre of a bush, not at all hidden, and the birds were 
not shy. Cumming records that they breed at Fao in the middle of June and 
he found the first eggs on June 13th ; the nests there are placed on the date palm 
leaves three to five, occasionally ten feet up, and four is the usual 
number of eggs. He describes the eggs as glossy white with lead-colour blotches 
and spots towards the large end and at times over the whole egg. Tomlinson 
on the Karun R.. found nests with four and five eggs on May 24th. 
Their food consists of ‘‘ insects’ (Pitman), while Ingoldby saw these birds 
gorging themselves on ripening dates at Baghdad, and Cheesman found giz- 
zards of birds obtained full of the luscious red berries of Lyciwm europeum. 
Bars records of this bird were received from Baghdad, near Amara, Museyib 
and Basra in the breeding season. 
The bill is black and the legs flesh colored. 
Spirit specimens of adults and newly hatched young are great desiderata. 
Eleven specimens examined: ¢ 9, Amara, 24-6-18 (P. A. B.); Baghdad, 7-8-17, 
2-10-17 (two) (Ingoldby) ; 3, Adhaim, 30-9-17, 9-10-17 (two) (C. R. P.); d dQ, 
Sera, 30-4-19 (P. Z. C. and R. E. C.). 
67. White-eared Bulbul. Pycnonotus leucotis. 
Pycnonotus leucotis, mesopotamie* C. B. Ticehurst (B.N.H.S.J. 26, 
(p. 279, 1918—Basra). Type now B. M. 
This race of Bulbul is common and resident in palm groves and gardens from 
Fao and Shustar to Baghdad on the Tigris, and to Museyib on the Euphrates; 
higher up on the two rivers at Samarra, Tekrit, Mosul and at Feluja, Ramadi 
and Hit their absence was remarked on, as it was at Khanikin on the frontier, 
which place Buxton visited twice ; nor is any Bulbul recorded at Urfa by Wei- 
gold. Some of these places are doubtless unsuited to its habits, though others, 
such as Khanikin, appeared to be suitable in every way. Away from the date 
palm and garden area it seldom occurs but Pitman found it innabiting reed beds 
near Kurna far from any trees. 
It breeds from April to July ; Buxton found young hatched by May 1st when 
most were yet building, and in September saw partly fledged young, so that 
probably two or more broods are reared, The middle of May appears to be the 
time for fresh clutches of eggs. _ Tomlinson says three, rarely four, is the usual 
number of eggs and three certainly seems to be the common number, but Cum- 
ming at Fao records a nest of five. The nests are situated in almost any bush, 
especially date palms, and a nest is reported as situated in a reed frame sup- 
* By a printer’s error spelt mesopotamta. 
