OTOCOMPSA. 183 



Finally, Mr. J. Darling, Junior, remarks : — " I really wonder if 

 anyone down south does not know the Eecl-whiskered Bulbul and 

 its nest. On the Nilghiris and in the Wynaad I can safely say 

 it is the commonest nest to be met with, built in all sorts of places, 

 sometimes high up. They generally lay two, but very often three, 

 eggs. In a friend's bungalow in the "Wynaad there were three nests 

 built on the wall-plate of the verandah and two eggs laid in each 

 nest. The young were safely hatched. 



" This year the nests have been rebuilt and contain eggs. As I 

 am writing, there are two pairs building in a rose-bush about 3 yards 

 from me. They breed from 15th February to 15th May." 



The numerous eggs of this species that I possess, though truly 

 Bulbul-like in character, all belong to one single type of that form. 

 Almost all have a dull pinkish or reddish-white ground, very thickly 

 freckled, mottled, and streaked all over with a rich red ; in most 

 blood-red, in others brick-red, underneath which, when closely 

 looked into, a small number of pale inky-purple spots are visible. 

 In half the number of eggs the markings are much densest at the 

 large end : these eggs are one and all more brightly and intensely 

 coloured than any of those that I possess of M. leucotis, M. leuco- 

 genys, and 0. emeria ; they are, moreover, larger than any of these. 



In length they vary from 0-82 to 0-97, and in breadth from 0-63 

 to 0-71 ; but the average of thirty-six eggs measured was 0-9 by 0-66. 



290. Otocompsa flaviventris (Tick.). The Black-crested 

 Yelloiv Bulbul. 



Rubigula flaviventris (Tick.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 88. 



Pycnonotus flaviventris (Tick.), Hume, Rough Draft N. $ B. no. 456. 



The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul is another very common species 

 of which I have as yet seen very few eggs. The first notice of its 

 nidification I am acquainted with is contained in . the^following 

 brief note by Captain Bulger, which appeared in ' The Ibis.' He 

 savs : — » I obtained several specimens, chiefly from the vicinity 

 of the Great Kungeet River. From a thicket on the bank, near 

 the cane-bridge, a nest was brought to me on the 16th May, of 

 the ordinary cup-shape, made of fibres and leaves, and containing 

 three eggs, which my shikaree said belonged to this species. The 

 eggs were of a dull pinkish hue, very thickly marked with small 

 specks and blotches of brownish crimson." 



Major O. T. Bingham, writing of this Bulbul in Tenasserim, 



sa y S : " Common enough in the Thoungyeen forests, affecting 



chiefly the neighbourhood of villages and clearings. The following 

 is a note of finding a nest and eggs I recorded in 1878 :— On the 

 14th April I happened to be putting up for the day in one of the 

 abandoned Karen houses of the old village of Podeesakai at the 

 foot of the Warmailoo toung, a spur from the east watershed range 

 of the Meplay river. Having to wait for guides, I had nothing 

 particular to do that day, a very rare event in my forest work ; 1 



