OTOCOMPSA. 183

Finally, Mr. J. Darling, Junior, remarks :—"I really wonder if
anyone down south does not know the Bed-whiskered'Bulbul and
•its nest. On the Nilghiris and in the "Wynaad I can safely say
it is the commonest nest to be met with, built in all sorts of places,
sometimes high up. They generally lay two, but very often three,
eggs. In a friend's bungalow in the Wynaad there were three nests
built on the wall-plate of the verandah and two eggs laid in each
nest. The young were safely hatched.

" This year the nests have been rebuilt and contain eggs. As I
am writing, there are two pairs building in a rose-bush about 3 yards
from me. They breed from 15th February to 15th May."

The numerous eggs of this species that I possess, though truly
Bulbul-like in character, all belong to one single type of that form.
Almost all have a dull pinkish or reddish-white ground, very thickly
freckled, mottled, and streaked all over with a rich red ; in most
blood-red, in others brick-red, underneath which, when closely
looked into, a small number of pale inky-purple spots are visible.
In half the number of eggs the markings are much densest at the
large end: these eggs are one and all more brightly and intensely
coloured than any of those that I possess of If. leucoti-s, M. leuco-
yeniis, and 0. emeria; they are, moreover, larger than any of these.

In length they vary from OS2 to 0*97, and in breadth from 0-63
to O71; but the average of thirty-six eggs measured was 0*9 by 0-66.

290. Otocompsa flaviventris (Tick.). The Black-crested
Yellow Bulbul.

Kubigula flaviventris (Tick.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 88.

Pycnonotus flaviventris (Tick.), Hume, Rouyh Draft N. fy IE. no. 456.

The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul is another very common species
of which I have as yet seen very few eggs. The first notice of its
nidilication I am acquainted with is contained in the following
brief note by Captain Bulger, which appeared in * The Ibis.' He
says:—" 1 obtained several specimens, chiefly from the vicinity
of the Great Eungeet liiver. From a thicket on the bank, near
the cane-bridge, a nest was brought to me on the 16th May, of
the-ordinary cup-shape, made of fibres and leaves, and containing
three eggs, which my shikaree said belonged to this species. The
eggs were of a dull pinkish hue, very thickly marked with small
specks and blotches of brownish crimson."

Major C. T. Bingham, writing of this Bulbul in Tenasserim,
says :j_» Common enough in the Thoungyeen forests, affecting
chiefly the neighbourhood of villages and clearings. The following
is a note of finding a nest and eggs I recorded in 1878:—On the
14th April I happened to be putting up for the day in one of the
abandoned Karen houses of the old village of Podeesakai at the
foot of the "Warniailoo touog, a spur from the east watershed range
of the Meplay river. Having to wait for guides, I had nothing
particular to do that day, a very rare event in my forest work; 1