THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 3 



tlien there were young — did tlie birds at all assist me in finding 

 their nest by hovering about in its vicinity. Of the seven nests two 

 contained three eggs each and one contained only two. Of the 

 others one nest had but a single egg in it and the remaining two were 

 empty. My nine eggs average in size '96 in. by '58 in. They vary 

 in length between '93 in. and TOO in., and in breadth between 

 •56 in. and "60 in. 



The ground-colour is a faint, very delicate cream, and they are freck- 

 led with specks and tiny irregular blotches of brownish-pink and 

 with others again, subordinate to these, of pinky-grey, appearing as 

 if below the shell. The markings form a verv distinct rine- in the 

 greater number at the larger end, and here too there is a dull purplish 

 tint caused by very indistinct, cloudy markings of pale neutral tint. 

 In about half the eggs, also confined to the larger end, there are a 

 few exceedingly fine, short, hair-like marks, the colour of clotted blood 

 or of dark brown. 



Of all bulbuls' eggs these are, I think, the most elongated, but at 

 the same time they are obtuse rather than pointed. The shell is 

 very fragile and soft in texture, the surface is smooth but quite 

 glossless. 



During the cold weather I have seen this rare bulbul as low 

 down as 1,500 feet, but after April they appear all to ascend above 

 three thousand feet, and many go to the highest peaks, nearly 7,000 feet 

 high. They keep to much the same sort of ground as Otocompsa 

 fiaviventris, and like them assemble in flocks from September to 

 April. The flocks appear to differ much in their proportions ; I have 

 seen over thirty collected together, and again I have observed flocks 

 consisting of only half a dozen individuals. They are rather silent 

 birds, when not quarreling (a vice they are rather given to), and they 

 do not seem to have any song worthy of the name ; and most of their 

 other notes resemble the conversational notes of 0. 'pygmi8 and 

 hurmannicus very closely, though they are distinguishable by any 

 one who has studied the different bulbuls' voices. 



They are shy birds and impatient of close observation. They are 

 quite impartial as to their feeding grounds, visiting high trees and 

 low bushes alike. 



Thev breed, as far as I know, in June and Julv, but a wide 



