PYCNONOTUS HvEMOEEHOUS. 



(THE MADRAS BULBUL.) 



Muscicapa hcemorrhousa, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 941 (1788). 



Hamatornis pusillus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1841, x. p. 841. 



Pycnonotus hcemorrhous, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1845, xiv. p. 50G ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 209 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 123 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 



Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 125 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 240 (1854) ; 



Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 94 (1863) ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 8 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 451; 



Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 292 ; Butler & Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 473. 

 Bros cafer, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 88. 



Molpastes chrysorrhoides, Adam & Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 378. 

 Molpastes pusillus, Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 291 (1874). 

 Molpastes hcemorrhous, Fairbank, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 405. 

 Bed-vented Flycatcher, Brown, 111. Zool. pi. 31. fig. 1 (1776). Bulbul, Hind. ; Tonki bulM, 



Bengal. ; Pigli pitta, Telugu; Konda lati, Tarn, in India (Jerdon). The Ceylon Nightingale 



of some in Ceylon. 

 Konde-kunilla, Sinhalese ; Kondacla, Tamil, lit. " Topknot bird," from the crest ; The Con- 



datchee Bulbul (Kelaart) ; Pastro kondache, Portuguese in Ceylon. 



Mah . Length 7 - 6 to 8-0 inches ; wing 3 - 75 ; tail 3 - 2 ; tarsus 0-85 ; mid toe and claw 0-85 ; hind toe and claw 0-6 ; bill 

 to gape 0-78. 



Iris deep brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dark or sepia-brown. 



K:;tire head, chin, and throat black, not so intense on the throat, and with the ear-coverts inclining to brown; the 

 feathers of the back of head elongated and capable of being erected at will : hind neck, back, wings, chest, upper 

 part of breast, and thigh-coverts sepia-brown of various shades, deepest adjoining the black of the head and throat, 

 palest on the breast, and edged with greyish white everywhere but on the lower flanks ; the edgings are whitest 

 on the sides of the neck, where they coalesce to form a white streak next the black of the throat ; quills pale- 

 edged exteriorly: tail blackish brown, broadly tipped with white; under tail-coverts shining crimson. 



Birds from high altitudes, such as the upper parts of Uva and about Hakgala have the edgings of the feathers more 

 albescent than low-country specimens, and the whole plumage has a paler appearance. 



Young. The black of the head and throat not so intense; and the upper surface with less plainly defined edgings of 

 fulvous grey : quills margined externally with rusty brownish ; tail with an obsolete black terminal band, a dusky 

 whitish tip, and the base paler than in the adult : vent and under tail-coverts reddish. 



(Vis. Some doubt exists as to the true specific name for this species. It has been of late referred to under Birth's title 

 "Pycnonotus pusillus, which was held by this naturalist, in his commentary on Jerdon's ' Birds of India ' (Ibis, 1867, 

 p. * ), to be alone applicable to the Madras Bulbul, on the ground that the Muscicapa hcemorrhousa of Gmelin 

 referred to a Chinese species {Iscos chrysorrhoides). It does not, however, appear to me that this is a matter 

 beyond dispute, particularly as one of the localities given by Gmelin for his species was Ceylon (Syst. Nat. i. p. 941). 

 I prefer, therefore, not to depart from the nomenclature adopted by Jerdon and others ; and I observe that 

 -Mr. Hume, in his later notices of this bird, applies Ginelin's title to it. This peculiarly Indian genus of Bulbuls 

 runs through a series of closely-allied species from P. pygceus, the large northern representative of the present, to 

 P. atricapillus, which is common in the north of Tenasserim. The first-named bird differs from ours in its 

 plumage by having the ear-coverts glossy chestnut-brown, and the black of the head descending upon the hind neck, 

 where it pales into the blackish brown of the back — thus being a much darker bird above, while in the lower parts 

 it is paler. The wings of Nepal, Himalayan, and Assam specimens which I have examined vary from 4-1 to 

 4-2 inches. P. nigropileus, a more eastern race than the last, found in Tenasserim, differs, says Blyth, from 

 P. hcemorrhous " in having no black on the throat and breast, which are brown, with greyish margins to the 



