236



Mr. Reginald Phillipps,



THE RUBY-THROATED BULBUL.


Rubigula dispar.


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


WITH REFERENCES TO SOME KINDRED SPECIES.


By Reginald Phillipps.


(Concluded from page 219.)


My Ruby, poor little woman, has led a very lonely life.

I have kept many different Bulbuls in my time; but, in a place

like mine with but limited accommodation, most Bulbuls become

a nuisance sooner or later, and I have discarded them, but mak¬

ing an exception with the present case because it is rare and so

little known. And so it is that she has had no allied species to

associate with, no kindred spirit—with but one exception. Even

the presence of the second Ruby I have mentioned did not

seem to appeal to her ; but at that time she was not quite up to

the mark. During the period of over five years she has passed

with me, with one brief interval she has been alone in a crowd,

she has not made friends, she has not sought the company of

any bird, neither has any’ bird sought hers.


For quite a long time, among the most spiteful and

pertinacious of her tormentors were the two Silver-eared Mesias

which were written about in the October and November issues

of 1903. In course of time the female died ; and, in October,

1905, the male Mesia and the female Ruby-tliroated Bulbul

commenced a friendship which continued until May, 1906, when,

owing to his loud voice, I had to send the Mesia away.


During the first two (see below) of the Bulbul’s broody

fits, which dated from January, 1906, she had the Mesia for her

mate. He would often come and sit by her, but I fear was not

very sympathetic ; he seemed to think that she must be a jolly

fool to go to nest in mid-winter, and to sit so diligently upon

nothing. “I should like to see the colour of your eggs” he

would say, and intimated plainly that a sex which could give

way to such childish vagaries proved itself thereby to be con¬

stitutionally unfit to have the vote. During her third broody

period, she keenly felt the loss of his companionship, and would

sometimes be very noisy, coming off her “nest” with a loud



