168 CRATEEOPODID-S). 



and lined with a moss much resembling black horsehair. The 

 eggs, which are two in number, are pretty thickly spotted with 

 pale lilac and claret on a light pink ground-colour. I found these 

 birds migrating in vast flights, numbering several thousands, in the 

 Bolumputty valley in July. They were flying westwards towards 

 Malabar." 



Mr. Darling, Junior, writes:— "I have taken the eggs of this 

 Black Bulbul every year from 1863 to 1870 during March, April, 

 May, and part of June, all over the Nilghiris. The nests were all 

 made of moss, dry leaves, and roots, lined with roots and fibres. 

 I have only once found three eggs (the normal number being two) ; 

 in this case the eggs are very much smaller than usual, and more 

 .blotched with the reddish spots. I have found them at all heights 

 from the ground up to 30 feet, and mostly in rhododendron trees. 

 I found two nests in S. Wynaad, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, 

 both with young, in June 1873." 



Mr. C. J. W. Taylor informs us that he procured the nest of this 

 bird with three fresh eggs at Manzeerabad in Mysore on the 7th April. 



Colonel Legge tells us that this Bulbul breeds in Ceylon from 

 January till March. 



That the Nilghiris bird should lay usually only two eggs, and this 

 seems a well ascertained fact, while our very closely allied Himalayan 

 form lays, as I can personally certify, regularly four, is certainly 

 very strange. 



The eggs of this species, sent me from the Nilghiris by Messrs. 

 Carter and Davison, very closely resemble those of H. psaroides 

 from the Himalayas. The eggs are of course of the Bulbul type, 

 but in form are typically much more elongated and conical than 

 the true Bulbuls. The ground-colour varies from white to a delicate 

 pink. The markings consist of different shades of deep red and 

 pale washed-out purple. In some the markings are bold, large, 

 and blotchy, in others minute and speckly ; and in both forms 

 there is a tendency to confluence towards the large end, where 

 there is commonly a more or less perfect, but irregular, zone. The 

 eggs though smooth and satiny have commonly little or no gloss, 

 and, considering their size, are very delicate and fragile. 



In length they vary from 1-0 to 1 - 17, and in breadth from - 7 to 0-8. 



27?. Hemixus macclellandi (Horsf.). The Rufous-bellied Bulbul. 

 Hypsipetes mclellandi, Horsf., Jerd. B. hid. ii, p. 79. 

 Hypsipetes m'clellandii, Horsf, Hume, Hough Draft N. 8f E. no. 447. 



The Bufous-bellied Bulbul, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, 

 breeds in the central region of Nepal, and low down nearly to the 

 Terai, from April to June. Its nest is a shallow saucer suspended 

 between a slender horizontal fork, to the twigs of which it is firmly 

 bound like an Oriole's with vegetable fibres and roots. It is com- 

 posed of roots and dry leaves bound together with fibres, and 

 lined with fine grass or moss-roots. The bird is said to lay four 

 eggs, but these are neither figured nor described. 



Dr. Scully writes from Nepal : — " This Bulbul is common 



