2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, I8&2. 



Lengtli 8'2 in.; tail 4 in.; wing 3'3in.; bill at front '4 in., and from 

 gape '65 in.; tarsus '8 in. 



The feathers of the tail are rather strongly graduated, the centre 

 pair exceeding the outermost by rather more than three-quarters oi 

 an inch. 



NiDiFiCATiON.—The nest is very much like that of the common bul- 

 bul (P. jpi/gceus); but on an average I think it is proportionately 

 shallower. The first I ever saw was composed outwardly entirely of 

 very dark -coloured materials, the only light thing about it being one 

 small yellow leaf woven into the base amongst the other materials ; 

 these consisted of black fern roots, dark brown twigs, and tendrils 

 of climbing plants. The lining was composed of the ends of some 

 grass denuded of the seeds, which in colour was a bright tan. Another 

 nest, obtained later on, was composed largely of dead leaves and twigs 

 interwoven with, and bound together by, roots, further strengthened 

 here and there with a few cobwebs. The lining was of the same 

 flowering grass ends as in the other. I do not know the name of the 

 particular kind of grass from which it is taken, but when a quantity 

 is put together it has exactly the appearance of " khus-khus." 

 Of five other nests which I have taken, three were much like 

 the one first mentioned, and two others were of an intermediate 

 type between that and the other one. All seven nests are rather dark, 

 even such leaves as are used in their construction are generally of a 

 dark brown or dead green shade, rather than of the commoner colours, 

 yellows and reds. In shape, as already mentioned, they are shallow 

 cups, very neatly and firmly made. The majority of those I have 

 taken were placed in between several upright twigs, these being only 

 partly brought into the sides of the nest by the circumscribing mate- 

 rials. The average of five of the nests was rather less than four 

 inches in diameter ; in depth none exceed 1'5 in., varying between that 

 and 1'2 in. The internal measurements are about 3"2 in,, by '8 in. 

 depth. All the nests were taken from low bushes close to the ground. 

 The highest was found at about five feet, the majority between two 

 and three and-a-half feet. The birds take great pains to conceal them 

 well, and it often requires careful searching before they can be found. 

 The parent bird, moreover, generally leaves the nest very silently, 

 and at once quits the neighbourhood. On one occasion only— and 



