I2a JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, im^ 



to the larger half. The primary markings are generally fairly 

 equally distributed over the whole surface, but the secondary ones 

 are most numerous at the larger end. 



I have two very beautiful clutches in which the markings are all of 

 light pinky red, almost obliterating the entire ground-colour. 

 Another clutch has the markings of dark reddish. They do not, taking 

 a large number into consideration, vary nearly as much as the eggs 

 of most bulbuls, and the character of the markings is very constant* 

 Thus in the hundreds of eggs I have seen, I haT© never seen one 

 which could, properly speaking, have been said to have been 

 hlotched, though in some cases the markings are large enough to be 

 termed spots rather than specks or freckles. The main diSerence 

 in different specimens lies chiefiy in the distribution of the mark- 

 ings rather than in their character, though even in this respect 

 I have never met with a ve7-y sparsely marked egg. 



In size, too, they differ but little, the extreme length and breadth 

 being '92 in. and '72, and the least '82 in- and '61 in. The average of 

 forty eggs is '87 in. by '66 in. In shape they are either regular ovals, 

 or are drawn out and slightly pointed towards the smaller end. 

 Intermediate forms are common and exaggerated ones very rare. 

 The texture is the same as that of Molpastes ]oygcsus or hurmanicuSy 

 but the shell is more fragile and perhaps smoother. I have no eggs 

 which exhibit any gloss, except the two pink blotches above referreci 

 to. They breed principally in May and June, but their eggs may be 

 taken throughout more than half the year. My earliest eggs were 

 found on the 24th March, the next earliest on the 8th April, again 

 on the 21st, and then numbers until the end of July. On August 

 ^th I took two fresh eggs, on the 17th three more, and the latest 

 I have noted were found on the Srd September. 



This bulbul ia almost as common, from the plains to nearly the 

 highest hills, as is M. burmanicus and pygcsus. Above 4,000 feet 

 it gradually gets scarce, and is not to be found much over 5,000 feet. 

 They remain in the broken ground at the foot of the hills all the 

 year roundj breeding in suitable places, such as tea gardens, &c. I 

 have never seen this bird in the interior of heavy forest, seldom, 

 indeed, in forest of any sort, though it is often enough to be seen in 

 bamboo jungle. It keeps much to the semi- open ground in th© 



