OTOCOMPSA. 181 



characteristic of the Bed-whiskered Bulbul, and is scarcely to be 

 met with in those of the White-cheeked or White-eared ones. 



Mr. H. B. P. Carter says : — " At Coonoor on the Nilghiris T 

 have found the nests from the 13th March to the 22nd April, but 



1 believe they commence laying in February. They are generally 

 placed in coffee-bushes and low shrubs, as a rule in a fork, but I 

 nave frequently found them suspended between the twigs of a 

 bush which had no fork. I have also found the nest of this bird 

 in the thatch of the eaves of a deserted bungalow, and in tufts of 

 grass on the edge of a cutting overhanging the public road. 



" The nest is cup-shaped, rather loosely constructed outside, but 

 closely and neatly finished inside. The outside is nearly always 

 fern-leaves at the bottom, coarse grass and fibres above, and lined 

 inside either with fine fibres or fine grass. 



" I have never found more than two eggs, and I have taken great 

 numbers of nests ; but I am told that three in a nest is not un- 

 common." 



Writing from Kotagherry, Miss Oockburn says : — " Our Bed- 

 whiskered Bulbul builds a cup-shaped nest in any thick bush. 

 The foundation is generally laid with pieces of dry leaves and fern, 

 after which small sticks are added, and the whole neatly finished 

 with a lining of fine grass. They lay two (sometimes three) very 

 prettily spotted eggs of different shades of red and white, which 

 are found in February, March, and April." 



Mr. Wait remarks : — " This bird breeds at Coonoor from Feb- 

 ruary to June. It builds usually in isolated bushes and shrubs, 

 in gardens and open jungle. The nest is cup-shaped, loosely but 

 strongly built of grass-bents, rooty fibres, and thin stalks, and is 

 lined with finer grass-stems and roots. I think the internal dia- 

 meter averages about 2£ inches, and about an inch in depth ; but 

 they vary a good deal in size. They lay two or three eggs, rarely 

 four ; and the eggs vary a good deal in shape and size, being some- 

 times very round and sometimes comparatively long ovals. The 

 birds swarm on our coffee estates, and breed freely in the coffee- 

 bushes." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " I have frequently had its nest and eggs 

 brought me on the Nilghiris. The nest was very neatly made, 

 deep, cup-shaped, of moss, lichens, and small roots, lined with hair 

 and down. The eggs are barely distinguishable from those of the 

 next bird \_M. bengalensis], being reddish white with spots of purplish 

 or lake-red all over, larger at the thick end." 



But Dr. Jerdon rarely took nests with his own hand, and in this 

 case clearly wrong nests must have been brought to him. 



From Trevandrum Mr. F. Bourdillon says : — " It lays three or 

 four eggs of a pale pink colour, with purple spots, in a nest of 

 roots, lined with finer roots and interwoven with the leaves of a 

 jungle-shrub gathered green. The nest, 3 inches in diameter and 



2 inches deep, is generally situated in a bush 4 to 5 feet from the 

 ground." 



Mr. J. Davidson remarks: — "This bird simply swarms along 



