HYPSIPETES GANEESA. 
(THE BLACK BULBUL.) 
Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 87 ; Jard. & Selby, 111. Orn. 2nd ser. pi. 2 ; 
Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. App. p. 339 (1849) ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 
i. p. 255 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 79 (1863, in part) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 42 ; 
Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 450; Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 400 ; Fairbank, ibid. 1877, 
p. 405. 
Hypsipetes nilghiriends, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1839, x. p. 245 ; Blyth, Cat. 
B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 207 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 123 (1852); Layard, Ann. 
& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 125 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 78 (1863, in pt.) ; Hume, 
Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 280 (1874) ; id. Str. Feath. 1873, p. 438. 
- The Nilgherry Blade Bulbul and The Ghdt Blade Bulbul (Jerdon). 
Kele kondiya, Sinhalese. 
Male. Length 9’6 to 10’5 inches ; wing 4-5 to 4-9 ; tail 4'3 ; tarsus 0'8 ; mid toe and claw 0'85 to 0‘9 ; bill to 
gape 1'35. 
Iris faded red or orange, with a dusky tinge ; bill coral-red, the nostril-membrane brown ; legs and feet yellowish red, 
the claws blackish (these latter fade in dried specimens). 
Lores, forehead, head, and nape glossy black, with a greenish lustre in freshly moirlted birds ; hind neck, back, rump, 
and upper tail-corerts dull bluish slate, the centres of the back-feathers dark ; wings and tail dull brown, the wing- 
coverts, secondaries, innermost primaries, and tail-feathers at their bases edged with bluish ashy, the latter 
faintly so ; cheeks and ear-coverts cinereous brown ; chin darkish ; throat, chest, and under surface faded slate- 
grey, paling on the abdomen ; under tail-coverts slaty brown, with dark shafts and whitish edges. 
Adult female. Length 9'6 inches ; wing 4’4 ; tail 3-6 ; tarsus 0‘7 ; bill to gape 1'2. 
Iris, in some examples I have examined, slightly brownish. 
Plumage similar to that of the male. 
Young. Birds of the year have the tip of the bill and space round the nostril blackish ; iris yellowish brown ; legs 
and feet dusky yellowish. 
Throat and under surface lighter than in the adult ; wings and fail browner, or of a paler hue than in old birds ; the 
quills deeply margined with pale tawny, and the edges of the tail-feathers slightly coloured with the same. 
Ohs. This bird has been known under two names — //. ganeesa of Sykes and H. nilgliiricnsis of Jerdon. The former 
author described liis type from the Ghats, and birds from that region were accordingly kept as ganeesa-, while 
those from the Ndghiris were separated by Jerdon under the above-mentioned specific name, which he likewise 
applied to the Ceylonese race. Blyth pointed out (Ibis, 1865) the identity of the two forms; and Mr. llolds- 
worth accordingly applied Sykes’s title to our birds. I cannot do better than subjoin Mr. Hume’s note on this 
subject, written after he had fully satisfied himself that these two supposed species wore one and the same. He 
writes (iStr. Peath. 1876, p.400) : — “ I have carefully compared seven specimens from Mahabaleshwar with nine from 
the Nilghiris, three from the Assamboo hills, and four from Ceylon. I find that adults and young birds from the 
three former localities are precisely similar; in the youuger birds the bills are browner and the wing.s smaller, but 
there is no difficulty in matching any Mahabaleshw'ar bird with some Nilghiri one. Birds from Ceylon are, in all 
respects but one, identical with those from the other localities ; but they certainly do appear to have 8ome« hat 
larger bills. I entertain no doubt that the birds from all these localities should henceforth stand under Sykes s 
name of ganeesa.” Blyth noticed a peculiarity in the Ceylon birds in that they were paler than those from South 
India. I have compared Ceylonese specimens with some from the Bombay district and Madras Presidency, and 
find scarcely any appreciable difference, except, perhaps, in the throat and flanks, which, in the Indian examples, 
are somewhat darker than in ours, A bird from Matheran measures 4-4 inches in the wing, and 1-21 in the bill 
from gape to tip. 
