IOLE. 185 



295. Iole icterica (Strickl.). The Yellow-browed Bulbul. 



Criniger ictericus, Strichl., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 82 ; Hume, Mouah Draft 

 iV.> 17. no 450. >V , , J J 



The Yellow-browed Bulbul breeds apparently throughout the 

 hilly regions of Ceylon and the southern portion of the Peninsula of 

 India. 1 have never taken the nests myself, and 1 have only de- 

 tailed information of their nidification on the Nilghiris, which they 

 ascend to an elevation of from 6000 to 6500 feet, and where they lay 

 from March to May. 



A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Wait near Coonoor on the 

 20th of March, is a small shallow cup hung between two twigs, 

 measuring some 3^ inches across and f inch in depth. It is com- 

 posed of excessively fine twigs and lined with still finer hair-like 

 grass, is attached to the twigs by cobwebs, and has a few dead 

 leaves attached by the same means to its lower surface. It is a 

 slight structure, nowhere I should think above \ inch in thickness, 

 and apparently carelessly put together ; but for all that, owiug to 

 the fineness of the materials used, it is a pretty firm and compact 

 nest. It is not easy to express it in words ; but still this nest 

 differs very considerably in appearance from the nests of any of 

 the true Bulbuls with which I am acquainted, and more approaches 

 those of Hypsipetes. 



Mr. Wait sends me the following note : — 



" This bird, although very common on the Nilghiris at elevations 

 of from 4000 to 5000 feet, is a very shy nester, and its nest, which 

 is not easily found, is, as far as my experience goes, invariably 

 placed in the top of young thin saplings at heights of from 6 to 10 

 feet from the ground. The saplings chosen are almost always in 

 thick cover near the edge of dry water-courses. They generally 

 lay during May, but I have found nests in March. In shape the 

 nest is a moderately deep cup, nearly hemispherical, with an in- 

 ternal diameter of from 2-5 to 3 inches — a true Bulbul's nest, com- 

 posed of grass and bents and lined with finer grasses. The nest 

 is always suspended by the outer rim between two lateral branches, 

 and never, I believe, built in a fork as is so common in the case of 

 many other Bulbuls. They lay only two eggs, and never, I believe, 

 more. The eggs are longish ovals, rather pointed at one end, 

 a dull white or reddish white, more or less thickly speckled and 

 spotted or clouded with pale yellowish or reddish brown ; occa- 

 sionally the eggs exhibit a few very fine black lines." 



primary markings ; the others, which seem to be somewhat beneath the surface 

 of the shell, the secondary ones. Varying as both do in different eggs, all the 

 primary markings of any one egg are almost precisely the same shade ; and the 

 same is the case with the secondary ones, and there is always a distinct harmony 

 between both these and the ground tint. As for the markings, they are generally 

 much the most dense, in a more or less confluent mottled cap, round one end, 

 generally the largest, and are usually more or less thinly set elsewhere. In some 

 eggs all the markings are rather coarse and sparse, in others fine and more 

 thickly set. Two eggs measured 1-06 by 076 and 103 by 073. 



