I OLE. 185

295. lole icterica (Strickl.). The Yellow-browed BulM.

Criniger ictericus, StricJd., Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 82 : Hume. Roucih Draft
N. $ E. no 450.

The Yellow-browed Bulbul breeds apparently throughout the
hilly regions of Ceylon and the southern portion of the Peninsula of
India. 1 have never taken the nests myself, and 1 have only de-
tailed information of their nidifi.cat.ion on the Nilghiris, which they
ascend to an elevation oŁ from 6000 to 6500 feet, and where they lay
from March to May.

A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Wait near Coonoor on the
20th. of March, is a small shallow cup hung between two twigs,
measuring some 3^ inches across and | inch in depth. It is com-
posed of excessively fine twigs and lined with still finer hair-like
grass, is attached to the twigs by cobwebs, and has a few dead
leaves attached by the same means to its lower surface. It is a
slight structure, nowhere I should think above \ inch in thickness,
and apparently carelessly put together: but for all that, owiug to
the fineness of the materials used, it is a pretty firm and compact
nest. It is not easy to express it in words ; but still this nest
differs very considerably in appearance from the nests of any of
the true Bulbuls with which I am acquainted, and more approaches
those of Hypsipetes.

Mr. Wait sends me the following note :—

" This bird, although very common on the Nilghiris at elevations
of from 4000 to 5000 feet, is a very shy nester, and its nest, which
is not easily found, is, as far as my experience goes, invariably
placed in the top of young thin saplings at heights of from 6 to 10
feet from the ground. The sapliugs chosen are almost always in
thick cover near the edge of dry water-courses. They generally
lay during May, but I have found nests in March. In shape the
nest is a moderately deep cup, nearly hemispherical, with an in-
ternal diameter of from 2-5 to 3 inches—a true Bulbul's nest, com-
posed of grass and bents and lined with finer grasses. The nest
is always suspended by the outer rim between two lateral branches,
arid never, I believe, built in a fork as is so common in the case of
many other Bulbnls. They lay only two eggs, and never, I believe,
more. The eggs are loiigish ovals, rather pointed at one end,
a dull white or reddish white, more or less thickly speckled and
spotted or clouded with pale yellowish or reddish brown; occa-
sionally the eggs exhibit a few very fine black lines."

primary markings *the others, which seem to be somewhat beneath the surface
of the shell, the secondary ones. Varying as both do indifferent eggs, all the
primary markings of any one egg are almost precisely the same shade; and the
same is the case with the secondary ones, and there is ahvays a distinct harmony
between, both these and the ground tint. As for the markings, they are generally
much the most dense, in a more or less confluent mottled cap, round one end,
generally the largest, and are usually more or less thinly set elsewhere. In some
eggs all the markings are rather coarse and sparse, in others fine and more
thickly set. Two eggs measured 1-06 by 076 and T03 by 0-73.