CBINIGEB. 168

Subfamily BRACHYPODINJ5.
263. Criniger flaveolus (Gould). The White-throated Bulbul.

Criniger fiaveolus (Gould), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 83; Hume. Rouah
Draft N. ' A ' J

A nest of this species sent me from Darjeeling was found in
July, at an elevation of about 3000 feet.

It was placed on the branches of a medium-sized tree, at a height
of only about 5 feet from the ground.

The nest was a compact, rather shallow saucer, 5*5 inches in
diameter and about 2 inches in height externally. The cavity was
about 3'5 in diameter and an inch in depth. The greater portion
of the nest was composed of dead leaves bound together firmly by
fine brown roots ; inside the leaves was just a lining of rather coarser
brown roots, and again an inner lining of black horsehair-like roots
and fine steins of the maiden-hair fern.

The nest contained three fresh eggs. These eggs vary from
broad to somewhat elongated ovals, are more or less pointed towards
the small end, and exhibit a fine gloss.

The ground is a beautiful salmon-pink, and it is thinly spotted,
blotched, and marked with irregular lines of deep maroon-red.
Most of the markings in one egg are gathered into a very irregular
straggling zone round the large end, and the other egg exhibits
a tendency to form a similar zone. Besides these primary markings
a few spots and clouds of dull purple, looking as if beneath the
surface of the shell, are thinly scattered about the egg, chiefly in
the neighbourhood of the zone.

These eggs vary from 0-9 to 1*0 in length, and from. 0'7 to 0*72
in breadth.

Several nests of this species sent rne by the late Mr. Mandelli and
obtained by him in British and Native Sikhim during July and the
early part of August are all precisely of the same type. They each
contained two fresh eggs ; they were all placed in the branches ofc*
small trees in the midst of dense brushwood or heavy jungle, at
heights of from 4 to 10 feet from, the ground. The nests are
broad and saucer-like, nearly 5 inches in diameter, but not much
above 2 in height externally ; the cavities average about 3*25 in dia-
meter and about 1 in depth. The body of the nest is composed of
dead leaves, the sides are more or less felted round with rich brown
fibrous, almost wool-like roots ; inside the leaves fine twigs and
stems of herbaceous plants, all of a uniform brown tint, are wound
round and round, apparently to keep the leaves in their places
interiorly, and then the cavity is lined with jet-black horsehair-

" On rare occasions I have noticed a greenish tinge in very fresh eggs. This,
I think, is due to the colour of the inner membrane, which is generally a very
light green, in some very faint and in others more decided ; this tinge seems to
disappear after the egg is blown.

" Very rough measurements are as follows :— O9x0'63 ; 0'S3xO'63 ; 0'83 X
0-6; 0-83x0-66; 0-86x0-66."

11*