414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892. 



Length 7-9" to 8-3'' ; wing 3-6" to '4" ; tail 3-6" to 3' 9* ; tarsus -8" ; 

 bill at front -6* and from gape ■92". 



The above description is taken from a bird in fresh, plumage ; when 

 this becomes worn and abraded the brown seems to fade in colour 

 and the grey margins to the feathers almost disappear, whilst the 

 abdomen becomes more grey from the bases of the feathers showing 

 through more. 



NiDiFicATiON. — It is quite unnecessary to describe the nest of this 

 species, as it in no way differs from that of its near relations,. 

 M. hengalensis and M. hcemorrhous, 8fc. Like the other members of 

 the genus, it seems to have a great partiality for breeding in com- 

 pounds, orchards, &c. about houses and villages. At the time of 

 writing this article there are three nests within my own compound, 

 each containing three eggs. One of these is situated in a pomegranate 

 tree in which the foliage is so thin that the nest can be seen from 

 a great distance ; another nest is built in an orange tree about ten yards 

 away from the last, and the third is placed in a clump of Boganvilla 

 in company with a Spotted Dove's nest. As with all very common 

 birds whose nests are found in great numbers, some of these birds' 

 nests have been taken in very queer places. I once found a nest 

 being built inside a Government rest-house, but I was obliged to 

 occupy the house, and the birds refused to go on with their work 

 whilst I was there, though it is probable that they did so after I left, 

 for during the week I occupied the house, the owners of the nest 

 used to daily come to sit on the roof and expostulate with me for 

 interfering with them. Another nest was once shown to me built 

 on the top of a dead stump, in full view of every passer-by, though 

 it was shielded from rain and sun by a heavy branch of a tree some 

 4 or 5 feet above it. Perhaps the most peculiar place, though, in 

 which to find a Bulbul's nest, would be a patch of sungrass, yet 

 I have twice taken nests from such places, once built in a thick tuft 

 at about 2 feet from the ground, and the other time placed amongst 

 the roots almost on the ground itself. These birds undoubtedly 

 sometimes return to their nest of the previous year or else make use 

 of an old nest of some other bird. This year, 1892, a pair- of birds 

 have taken possession of an old nest which was built in 1891 in an 

 orange tr^e in my orchard, but was not noticed until January this- 



