Black Bulhuls 



course of the past few days changed the name 

 of no fewer than three genera ; consequently 

 the genus Glaux had again become Cryptoglaux, 

 and the genera Trochilus and Coturniculus 

 had become, respectively, Archilochus and 

 Ammodramus ! But we are wandering away 

 from our black bulbuls. The hillmen call 

 the Himalayan species the Ban Bakra, which 

 means the jungle goat. Why it should be so 

 named I have not an idea, unless it be because 

 the bird habitually " plays the goat ! " 



Black bulbuls seem never to descend to the 

 ground ; they keep almost entirely to the tops 

 of lofty trees and so occur only in well-wooded 

 parts of the hills. When the rhododendrons 

 are in flower, these birds partake very freely 

 of the nectar enclosed within their crimson 

 calyces. Now, I am fully persuaded that the 

 nectar of flowers is an intoxicant to birds, and 

 of course this will account, not only in part for 

 the rowdiness of the black bulbuls, but for the 

 pugnacity of those creatures, such as sunbirds, 

 which habitually feed upon this stimulating 

 diet. Black bulbuls, like sunbirds, get well 

 dusted with pollen while diving into flowers 

 after nectar, and so probably act the part of 

 insects as regards the cross-fertilisation of 

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