THE BULBULS OF NORTH CAOEAR. 127 



conld be seen from a long way off. A few nests arc made chiefly of 

 coarse grass and twigs, only a few leaves being worked into the base, 

 and one or two nests, taken by me, have differed from the nests of 

 the common bulbul only in their smaller size, though even 

 in these the major part of the materials were light coloured. 

 The lining is generally very neatly made, the grass ends being 

 tacked carefully in, whereas in the nests of Blyth's hnlhnl [Xanthixus 

 flavii>tceni<), the ends nearly always project from the nest a good 

 distance. The manner of putting in the lining is in fact the 

 principal difference in the nests of the two birds, though Blyth's 

 bulbul seldom uses many leaves in the work of building. 



The internal measurements often nests average 2/2 in. by 'Oi in. 



The only two abnormal nests that 1 have taken were both found 

 in 1888 ; one was a very shallow broad cup, not half an inch deep, and 

 made of grass, inside and out, and the second was an ordinary nest 

 as far as shape was concerned, but the whole lining and a great part 

 of the walls as well were composed of white goats' hair. It was a most 

 remarkable looking nest, but being built on a bush with leaves 

 which were white on the lower surface, was far from conspicuous 

 whilst in its natural position. In about four nests out of seven the 

 interior lining is of fern roots and stalks of plants alone. The nest 

 is generally placed in a low bush at from two to five feet from the 

 ground, sometimes in rather higher bushes, and very rarely in small 

 trees. The site selected is, as far as I am aware, never one in dense 

 jungle; it prefers thin scrub jungle, scattered bushes, and even the 

 outskirts of villages and rice fields, but, with one exception, viz.^ 

 that in which the nest was built in my garden, I have never known 

 them to breed in compounds. 



They lay three eggs as a rule, but sometimes four : I have never 

 seen five ego-s in a nest, but have often seen two only, which shewed 

 signs of incubation. 



The ground-colour of all my eggs is a faint pinky-white, varying 

 very little in intensity ; typically they are covered with numerous 

 freckles of dull reddish, underlying which are others of pale blue- 

 grey, which cause the general appearance of the Qgg to be a rather 

 dull purply tint. In some eggs there are a few exceedingly fine 

 lines the colour of clotted blood which are almost always confined 



