Bulbuls.



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rosy, the male has that colouring better defined, brighter and

covering a larger area ; I cannot say whether a similar difference

obtains in the yellow-vented species as I have not possessed

females for comparison.


The nests of Bulbuls are cup-shaped and usually are built

in bushes, creepers, low branches of trees or even upon stumps;

an aviary well furnished with foliage of various kinds would

therefore be most suitable for breeding purposes: although the

adults feed largely on fruit and, as compared with many insec¬

tivorous birds, somewhat sparingly upon insects, it is probable

that the young in their early life would be fed upon insects alone

and chiefly insects in the larval stage.


If Bulbuls are desired for song alone, I should certainly

recommend the Persian form of the White-eared Bulbul, which

is deservedly noted in prose and poetry as a grand songster :

some of its water-bubble notes remind one strongly of the

European Nightingale ( Daulius luschiia) : the somewhat smaller

N.W. Indian form of the species is said not to sing anything like

so well, but as I have only kept the Persian bird, I cannot speak

authoritatively on this point; touching its smaller size, however,

I was convinced by the late Mr. Abrahams who sent me a body

of the Indian bird for comparison with my living example ;

indeed the difference was so palpable that I wondered at the

observation of the late Mr. Blanford that the Persian bird “ may

perhaps run a little longer.”


If kept in a cage the latter should be of a size large enough

to enable the bird both to use its wings freely and bathe at will.

Bulbuls are by nature tolerably active birds and they delight in

a bath ; they are when healthy scrupulously clean, and their

plumage, though soft in texture, is kept beautifully unsoiled :

with my Persian bird I made the mistake of confining it in too

small a cage, the latter was of the box variety one foot across the

front, 18 inches high and 18 inches from front to back with one

perch high up towards the back, and a second low down towards

the front: in a larger cage and with a greater amount of fruit to

eat I feel sure I should have been able to keep it for more than

five years, although perhaps it might have been less confiding

than it was. I have had my first male Chinese Bulbul for close

upon thirteen years already and it is still vigorous.



