THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 415 



year. They seem to have clone nothing to the nest beyond putting 

 a little fresh grass in as a lining, and the nest is now a most shock- 

 ingly dilapidated looking habitation for a respectable bird. The eo-gs 

 vary quite as much as do those of the other species of Molpastes, and 

 the following are only a few of the many types that may be found : — 

 (1) The ground-colour varies from white to pale pink or cream 

 with nu.merous speckles and small blotches of reddish^ purplish-brown 

 and very pale lavender and grey, fairly numerous everywhere and 

 often tending to form a ring or cap at the larger end, (2) Pink 

 with large blotches of deep blood-red and purple-brown with under- 

 lying ones of grey and pale neutral tint, all confined to the larger 

 half where they nearly always form a ring. (3) Pale livid ground- 

 colour, with minute stipplings of purple-grey almost absent over the 

 smaller end and becoming confluent at the other, where they form 

 a dull-coloured cap. I have only seen one clutch of this remarkable 

 type, and no one would ever think this, or indeed the one next 

 mentioned, could possibly be a Bulbul's eg^. (4) White with tinv 

 specks of very light red and very pale grey, few at the small end 

 and becoming more numerous towards the large, but forming neither 

 ring nor cap. This type is almost as rare as the last ; in appearance 

 it is just like a small Broadbill's {8. lunatus) egg. (5) "White or 

 very pale cream, boldly blotched with dark brown and reddish. 

 (6) Pale cream mottled all over with dark cream and lavender. (7) Pale 

 pinkish with the ground-colour almost obliterated with innumer- 

 able speckles of dark reddish. (8) The same only marked with 

 bright pinkish-red. These will be enough to show how widely one 

 egg may differ from another : to give all the known forms of this 

 egg would fill pages and serve no purpose. 



I once took an abnormal clutch of this bird's eggs. They were 

 four in number, and were in shape almost perfect little spheres, 

 measuring no more than '50* X •48". In coloration they were 

 equally abnormal, for the ground-colour, which was a deep pink, 

 was almost obliterated by deep purple blotches. 



Two hundred eggs, which I have measured, varied in length 

 between "76* and 1*0 1", whilst the difference in the greatest and 

 least breadth was even greater, the respective limits being '79" and 

 •54". The average of the whole two hundred was '93" X •68*'. 



