238 Acclimatisation in the Isle of Mauritius. 
observation for a dozen years at a time when the ornithological' 
fauna was being- carefully studied by several naturalists. 
To what 1 have already said about this bird 1 shall add 
that it has multiplied at a fantastic rate. The cause of this 
tremendous reproduction at first puzzled me, for the Bulbul 
lays only three eggs, rarely four; I did once see five eggs in a 
nest. But breeding begins in July and ends in May. Hatching, 
lasts from 12 to 14 days, and the rearing of the young about as 
long. As, moreover, eggs are again laid almost as soon as 
the young have left the nest, we can gain some idea of the 
number of yearly breedings — at least eight. The nest is built 
comparatively quickly, though skilfully twined, but the Bulbuls 
do not hesitate to appropriate those of the Zost crops, adding a 
few blades of grass. The nests are built a very little distance 
from the ground. I have seen same at a foot, the highest not 
more than six feet. Feathers appear four days after the hatch- 
ing, and a dozen days later the young birds have left the nest. 
In a few weeks they wear the plumage of the adult. The eggs 
vary in shape from oval to the ordinary egg-shape; they are 
white, with very close reddish-brown spots, the position and 
shade of which vary enormously. 
The food of these birds is most varied. In the hundreds 
of crops that I have examined I have found fruit pulp, grass 
seeds, various plants, and elytra of the weevil. They refuse 
nothing; petals of the sweet pea, the green pea, any sort of 
flower (even, unhappily, those of the vanilla), fruits of every 
kind, berries, and if a dry season deprives them of these the 
pulp of the sugar-canes, which during harvest are scattered 
about the roads; even the sugar itself is not despised. They 
were seen in 191 1 on the bags in the docks, tasting the grains 
(Bui. Agr. 191 1, p. 564). 
(i) Bull. Soc. Acc. fr. 1910, p. 462. 
That is not the extent of their crimes ; they are one of the 
causes of the disappearance of the native fauna. Since 1911 i\w. 
diminution in the nimiber of Zostcrops . so ])lentiful before, has 
been remarkable. One of my men has several times brought me 
these birds which he had found dead by the roadside. Popular 
rumour accused the Bulbuls, and before long one had to admit 
the evidence. They assault these little birds, and take posses- 
sion of their nests after devouring the eggs. Recent observa- 
