48 
Genus Po@nicornis, Swaius. 
PHENICORNIS PEREGRINUS, Vig. 
I have not met with the nest and eggs of the small red bird, but I 
believe the description given below is that of a young bird soon after 
it had left the nest. “18th September 1849. Whole of the upper 
plumage olive-green, mottled about the head with pale yellow, a large 
spot of which is behind the eye; tips of the lesser wing-coverts pale. 
Primaries and secondaries dark, with pale edges; breast and belly 
pale whitish-yellow, with yellow streaks; legs and feet pale lead- 
colour ; claws soft, as also the edges of the beak.” 
Genus Iora. 
IORA TIPHIA. 
I have never met with the nest or eggs of this handsome little bird ; 
but Dr. Jerdon, in his Catalogue of Indian Birds, says, “I once, on 
the west coast, in the month of September, met with a nest of this 
species in the fork of a low tree; it was more neatly and carefully 
made than any other of the few nests I have seen in this country. It 
contained young ones.” The Iora has a most wonderful power of 
voice. At one moment it is heard uttering a low plaintive cry, at 
the next a shrill whistle; no one could have believed the notes to 
have issued from the same throat. On the 29th of August, 1849, 
I shot a female. The eggs in the ovaries were very large. The 
gizzard contained the remains of a curious green insect, partly covered 
with black hair. The tongue of this bird is furnished with two long 
muscles, as in the woodpecker. 
Genus HamatTornis. 
H2MATORNIS CAFER. Common BULBUL. 
This sprightly and truly Indian bird breeds during the months of 
August and September. The first time that I noticed them building 
in August was on the 11th, and I found a nest with one fresh-laid egg 
on the 25th of September. They build in thick bushes in gardens. 
I found two nests in my garden at Ahmednuggur, one built in a 
guava tree, and the other in a mass of creepers. The nest is com- 
posed of fine twigs, bound together here and there with cobwebs, and 
lined with fibres. The nest I send is lined with the fibre of the 
cocoa-nut picked off a cocoa-fibre mat. I observed the old birds 
picking at the mat when it was put out of doors. I do not know 
the number of eggs which their nest generally contains. The egg is 
<x in. in length by a little more than 56 wide, of a rich madder 
colour, spotted and blotched with grey and madder-brown. The only 
egg which I possessed is unfortunately broken ; but a drawing in my 
possession, most accurately painted by my sister-in-law, Miss Gardiner, 
gives it very correctly. 
