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On the Ruby-throated Bulbul.



THE RUBY-THROATED BULBUL.


Rubigula dispar.


(Cat. B. Brit. Mus. VI., 167 ; Hand-list III., 334.)


WITH REFERENCES TO SOME KINDRED SPECIES.


By Reginald Phielipps.


Through the courtesy of our member Mrs. Johnstone, I

received a female of this species on January 26, 1904; this bird

survives, and is still in my possession. On October 17 of the

same year, thanks again to Mr. and Mrs. Johnstone, I received a

second example ; this one, although far healthier than the first,

was so short of quill feathers in one wing that it could not fly.

It was carefully nursed through the winter, and in May was

loosed out from time to time; but one day it was caught, injured,

and plucked by a Rufous-chinned Laughing-Thrush ( Trochalop-

terum rufigzdare), and died on May 23, 1905, from inflammation of

the lungs, &c. This was a calamity, for, as far as I have been

able to learn, these two are the only specimens of Rubigula

dispar that have ever reached this country alive.


At the first, there was some doubt as to which of the two

species of Ruby-throated Bulbul my bird belonged, as it was

stated to have been procured in Celebes, from which island

neither is known. However, it transpired that it had been

obtained at a port-of-call on the way to Celebes ; and its title

was satisfactorily settled by a letter obtained by Mrs. Johnstone

from Mr. Cocksedge (who had been with Mr. Goodfellow,

and had brought the bird to England some ten days before I

received it) who, on February 5, wrote to her as follows:—“ The


bulbul.came from Surabaya ; we bought them in a shop.


Surabaya as you know is an important port in Java, and they

must, have been bred there as they were so young they were

unable to feed.” The call at Surabaya occurred about the end of

June, 1903, so my Ruby is now rising six.


The general colour above of this bird is olive-yellow, the

quills and tail feathers being brown but mostly edged externally

with the same colour as the back. The head and nape are deep

black, purplish black according to the Museum Catalogue—the

“purple” perhaps being perceptible in the case of the male but



