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Kandyan Province, it is a common bird in the forests up to an altitude of 3500 feet, and in the “ Knuckles,” 
and on the slopes of the main range and the Peak wilderness, ascends to a greater elevation than this, but 
does not, as far as I am aware, inhabit the immediate neighbourhood of Nuwara Elliya. In Uva it is very 
numerous, affecting even little patches of jungle on the patua-streams. 
Those who have not collected much in the heavy forests of the low country have but little idea how 
common a bird this Bulbul is in the particular localities which suit its habits. Kelaart wrote that it was a 
common species in the low country; but Messrs. Layard and Holdsworth have taken exception to this 
statement, inasmuch as they had not perhaps met with it themselves. Layard infers that Kelaart spoke of 
Ixos luteolus, and it is possible that there may have been such misidentification ; but nevertheless, as I have 
shown, it is a common bird in all the forests of the low country ; had Kelaart written of it, “ common in 
the low-country forests," his statement would have been beyond criticism. 
As regards the mainland, this species has only been found in the peninsula, and its range does not 
appear to extend further north than Bombay. Dr. Fairbank, who records it as common on the Goa frontier 
and rarely found on the Mahabaleshwar plateau, remarks that it may extend along the strip of country which, 
with similar conditions of climate and food, reaches as far up the west coast as Surat. Mr. Bourdillon states 
that it is a common bird in the Travancore hills, and in the Palanis it is said to inhabit an elevation of 
4000 feet and upwards. Jerdon writes that it prefers mountainous regions at from 3000 to 5000 feet, being 
abundant on the slopes of the Nilghiris at that altitude, although it is also occasionally found “ at a few 
hundred feet above the sea-level.” 
Habits. — No bird that I am acquaiirted with appears to be more at home in the solitude and shade ot 
the forest than the present. It is often met with associating in a little party far from the proximity of other 
species, hopping actively about among the boughs of lofty trees or in the luxuriant sappling growth beneath 
them, in which it finds no lack of insect-food, and, during the time that it is partaking thereof, testifies to a 
happy existence by frequently flying on to some bare branch, to give out its quiet little warble and then 
resume its sociable fellowship with its companions. I have always found it in the society of one or two of 
its fellows, the little troop thus formed exhibiting a most restless character : their sombre-coloured backs and 
wings and perpetual movement make it difficult to discern them among the foliage, although they may be 
heard warbling close at hand ; and it not unfrequently happens that, when the jungle is at all thick, they 
disappear without being detected, notwithstanding that the branches around have been diligently scrutinized 
in the search for them. They do not, as a rule, keep to the tops of trees, but usually hunt for their food in 
lateral branches or on the upper boughs of sapplings. Their low-toned varying notes are difficult to describe, 
but, on the whole, form a not unpleasing little warble. Some of them resemble the sounds cly eye, te lohite up, 
te whit up, which three modulations are continuously repeated for no little space of time. I have found its 
food to be more insectivorous than frugivorous; but in India it is said of it that the latter condition chiefly 
obtains. Mr. Bourdillon writes that it wanders “ about in small flocks, feeding almost entirely on fruits and 
seeds.” Jerdon says of it, in the Madras Journal Lit. and Sci. x. p. 249, “In all specimens I have examined 
I have found fruit only in its stomach ; but, from the strong bristles at the base of the bill, I suppose it 
may, at certain seasons, partake of insects.” 
Niclification. — I once found the nest of this bird in the Pasdun-Korale forests in August; little or nothing, 
however, is known of its breeding habits in Ceylon, so that it most likely commences earlier than that month 
to rear its brood. My nest was placed in the fork of a thin sappling about 8 feet from the ground. It was 
of large size for such a bird, the foundation being bulky and composed of small twigs, moss, and dead leaves, 
supporting a cup of about 2i inches in diameter, which was constructed of moss, lined with fine roots ; the 
upper edge of the body of the nest was woven round the supporting branches. The eggs were two in number, 
of a reddish-white gi’ound-coloui’, rather thickly freckled throughout with sienna, and forming a well-marked 
zone round the obtuse end. They were broad, rather stumpy ovals, and measured 0'97 inch in length by 
0-70 inch in breadth. The situation of this nest was near a stream in the forest ; and many other old ones, which, 
I believe, belonged to this species, were in similar spots. Mr. Hume, in his ‘ Nests and Eggs,’’ remarks that 
some eggs which he received had “ only the faintest trace of pale pinkish mottling towards the large end,” 
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