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29. 
RUBIGULA MELAN I CTERA 
(TOE BLACK HEADED BULBUL! 
ADULT MALE AND FEMALE 
Length from 6.3 to 6.5 inches; wing 2.7 to 2.9; tarsus .6; middle toe and 
claw .58; hind toe and claw .48; bill to gape .75 to .8. Females are the 
smaller of the sexes. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The Black Headed Bulbul occurs throughout all the forest tracts of the lew 
low country, ascending the mountains of the Kandyan and Southern Provinces 
to an altitude of about 5000 feet in the former, and to the limits of the ju 
jungle in the latter. It is plentiful in suitable localities in the West¬ 
ern Province, being found within four or five miles of Colombo; it is also 
abundant In the South-western hill region, although almost absent from the 
arid maritime districts between Hambantotte and. the Park country. It is a 
common bird in all the forests of the Northern parts of the Island, Deing 
numerous round Trincomalie, and along the coast to the North of that place. 
In Uva, Haputale, and the Eastern coffee districts it is found up to the 
afore mentioned altitude, but I have not observed it so high on the Western 
side. About Kandy and the circumjacent districts it is very common, prefer¬ 
ring to the forest the deep valleys of the Mahawelli Ganga and its affluents 
the Maha Oya and the Bilhul Oya, as well as other similarly openly wooded 
localities. ' 
HABITS 
The 11 Cap Negre* frequents shady luxuriant forests, low jungle, cheena 
woods, the wooded borders of tanks, and so forth. It is one of the common¬ 
est denizens of the forest in Ceylon. It is met with either in pairs, or 
three or four together, and at times is socially Inclined towards Its neigh¬ 
bours of the forest, consorting with the forest bulbul, (Crlniger Ictericusl 
and in less heavily timbered spots may be found in company with the common 
White Browed Bulbul, (Ixos Luttolus). It delights in the well wooded shady 
ravines, watered by rocky streams, which intersect the patinas throughout 
the Central Province, and while halting for an instant by these delightful 
brooks on my journey from one estate to another, I have generally heard its 
unpretending little warble, which is much like the syllables "whee, whee, 
whee ff , frequently repeated. It generally affects the lateral branches of 
large trees, and searches about among.the outspreading boughs for its food, 
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