"BLACK BULBULS 



All passerine birds which have hairs springing 

 from the back of the head, and of which the 

 tarsus — the lower half of the leg — is shorter 

 than the middle toe, plus its claw, are classified 

 by scientific men as members of the sub-family 

 Brachypodinae, or Bulbuls. This classification, 

 although doubtless unassailable from the stand- 

 point of the anatomist, has the effect of bringing 

 together some creatures which can scarcely be 

 described as " birds of a feather." The typical 

 bulbul, as exemplified by the common species of 

 the plains — Molpastes and Otocompsa — is a 

 dear, meek, unsophisticated little bird, the kind 

 of creature held up in copy-books as an example 

 to youth, a veritable " Captain Desmond, V.C." 

 Bulbuls of the nobler sort pair for life, and the 

 harmony of their conjugal existence is rarely 

 marred by quarrels ; they behave after marriage 

 as they did in the days of courtship : they love 

 to sit on a leafy bough, close up against one 



another, and express their mutual admiration 

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