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450. Criniger ictericus, Stricland.

Ann. Nat. Hist., XIII. - Blyth, Cat. 1255 - Horsf., Cat. 379 -  Tricophorus Indicus, Jerdon, Cat. 75.

The Yellow-browed Bulbul.

Descr. - Plumage above bright olive-green ; superciliary streak extending to the forehead, and the whole plumage beneath, bright yellow; quills dusky on their inner webs; the shafts of the tail feathers beneath yellow.

Bill black; legs dark plumbeous; irides blood-red. Length 8 inches; wing 3 7/10; tail 3 1/2 ; bill at front 6/10; tarsus 8/10.

This species has only been found in the Malabar forests and Ceylon. It prefers mountainous regions, at from 3,000 to 5,000 feet of elevation, being very abundant on the slopes of the Neilgherries at that elevation ; but it is also found occasionally down to a few hundred feet above the sea level. It lives in small flocks, flying from tree to tree, and keeping up a continual and pleasing mellow bulbul-like warble.   I have chiefly found it to have partaken of fruit; but I dare say at times, insects are captured. I first described this bird, considering that it might be the Turdus Indicus of the older authors. I am not aware what species is now supposed to have been described under that name, or whether it has been identified at all. This bird has the crest only moderately developed, and the tail more even than the next bird.

The next species has the bill proportionally stronger, the crest more developed, and the tail with the outer feathers distinctly shorter.

Criniger ictericus, (Strickl.), Jerdon B. Ind. ii. p. 82; Hume. Rough 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. I have never taken the nests myself, and I have only detailed information of their nidification on the Nilgiris, which they ascend to an elevation of 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 3½ inches across and ¾ inch in depth. It is composed 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 ¼ inch in thickness, and apparently carelessly put together: but for all that, owing 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 Nilgiris at elevations of from 4000 to 5000 feet, is a very shy nester, and its nest, which is not easily found, is invariably placed in the top of young thin saplings at heights of from 6 to 10 feet from the ground. The saplings 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 internal diameter of from 2·5 to 3 inches - a true Bulbul's nest, composed of grass and bents and lined with finer grasses. The nest is always suspended by the outer rim between two lateral branches, and never, I believe, built in a fork as is so common in the case of many other Bulbuls. They lay only two eggs, and never, I believe, more. The eggs are longish 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; occasionally the eggs exhibit a few very fine black lines."

Miss Cockburn, writing from Kotagherry, says: "The Yellow-browed Bulbul is common on the less elevated slopes of the Nilgiris, where it is often seen feeding upon guavas, loquots, pears, peaches, etc. They lay generally in April and May.

"Their nests are constructed very much like those of the common Bulbuls, except that, instead of being placed in the forked branches of trees, they are suspended between two twigs, and fastened to them by cobwebs, the inside being neatly lined with fine grass. Two nests of this bird were found, each containing two fresh eggs, of a pretty pinkish salmon colour, with a dark ring at the thick end; but another nest had three nearly white eggs! The whole structure of the nests was slight and thin, and the eggs could be plainly seen through. The notes of the Yellow-browed Bulbul are loud and repeated often."

Writing on the birds of Ceylon, Colonel Legge remarks: "I once found the nest of this bird in the Pasdun-Korale forests in August; little, 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 sapling 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 2½ 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 bottom of the nest was in the fork."

The eggs of this species sent to me by Mr. Wait from Coonoor are totally unlike any other egg of this family with which I am acquainted. They remind one more of the eggs ofStoparola melanops or one of the Niltavas than anything else. The eggs are moderately long and rather perfect ovals, almost devoid of gloss, and with a dull white or pinkish-white ground, speckled more or less thickly over the whole surface with rather pale brownish red or pink. The specklings becoming confluent at the large end, where they form a dull irregular mottled cap. Other specimens received from Miss Cockburn from Kotagherry exhibit the same general characters; but the majority of them are considerably elongated eggs, approaching, so far as shape is concerned, the Hypsipetes type. In some eggs only the faintest trace of pale pinkish mottling towards the large end is observable; in others, the whole surface of the egg is thickly freckled and mottled all over, but most densely at the large end, with salmon-pink or pale pinkish brown.

In length the eggs vary from 0·9 to 1·03, and in breadth from 0·64 to 0·7.

Vernacular names. Huldi Bulbul (Mysore).

Description. Whole upper plumage bright, olive-yellow; wings dark brown, the outer webs of the feathers olive-yellow and the inner edged with the same; tail-feathers olive-yellow, with brighter edges and the inner edges and shafts yellow below; a streak from the nostril to the eye and a circle round it, sides of the head and whole lower plumage and under wing-coverts bright yellow, washed with olive-green on the flanks.

Colours of soft parts. Iris wood-brown; legs and feet pale •blue, claws bluish-horny; upper mandible brownish black, lower pale brown, darkest along the edges and tips (Davison); iris blood-red, dark red (Butler); iris blood-red (Jerdon).

Measurements. Total length about 200 mm.; wing 94 to 98 mm.; tail about 94 mm.; tarsus about 19 mm.; culmen about 15 mm.

Distribution. The West side of Southern India from about Mahabaleshwar to Cape Comorin and Ceylon.

Nidification. The Yellow-browed Bulbul breeds principally in February and March from Kanara to Travancore but eggs have' been taken as late as 15th May (Davidson); in the Nilgiris and higher hills it breeds from April to the end of May or early June. In Ceylon it apparently breeds in July and August. The nest is like a small neat edition of those of Microscelis, a cradle in a horizontal fork or between two twigs, made of leaves, soft, pliant twigs and grasses, firmly wound round the supporting twigs and well plastered with cobwebs. The lining is of fine grasses only. The site selected is on a small sapling or high bush, 5 to 10 feet from the ground, which may be either in dense forest, thin scattered tree- or bush-jungle, or even in a small spinney or clump of bushes.

Habits. This Bulbul is found at all heights from 2,000 to about 6,500 feet, frequenting forest, both light and dense, more open country and even sometimes venturing into gardens and orchards.

THE YELLOW-BROWED BULBUL
IOLE ICTERICA (Strickland)

(Frontispiece, Fig. 3)

Description:-
Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole upper plumage bright yellowish-olive ; wings dark brown, the outer webs olive-yellow, the inner edged with yellow; tail yellowish-olive, the shafts below and the inner edges of the feathers yellow ; a line through and round the eye, the sides of the head and the whole lower plumage bright yellow, the flanks washed with olive.

Iris brownish-red or blood-red ; bill horny-black ; legs and feet pale blue or slate-blue.

Field Identification:-
A very sprightly Bulbul, bright olive above and bright yellow below with a yellow line over the eye. Found in melodious parties in the forests of the Western Ghats.

Distribution:-
The Western Ghats from Khandala to Travancore, extending inland to the Nilgiris and Palnis at all heights from the foot of the hills to 6500 feet; most numerous about 3500 feet. Also found in Ceylon.
Another yellowish bird is the White-throated Bulbul (Criniger gularis) which is found at low elevations in the Eastern Himalayas, Assam, and extreme South-east Bengal. The upper plumage is yellowish-olive and the lower parts bright yellow with a white throat. It is a noisy, gregarious bird found in humid forest with thick undergrowth.

Habits, etc:-
The Yellow-browed Bulbul is one of the commonest forest birds of the Western Ghats where its normal habitat is the heavy evergreen forest which covers so many of the slopes of the hills. Here it keeps much to the undergrowth though it is often found about the edges of the forest and occasionally ventures into neighbouring gardens ; the shade and solitude of the forest are, however, it proper home.

This species will be observed both in pairs and in noisy parties of five or seven birds which often join on to the mixed hunting parties. It is very restless in character, hopping actively about the boughs of the trees and then descending to the sapling undergrowth and then again flying on to some bare bough to give out its quiet little warble.   The low-toned varying notes are difficult to describe, but  the adjectives sweet and soft and mellow will at once occur to the hearer. Some of them resemble the sounds cty eye, te white up, te whit up and these three modulations are continuously repeated for no small space of time. An alarm-note is somewhat harsh and jarring. In India this Bulbul is said to be largely frugivorous, feeding not only on the forest berries and fruits but on the more valuable domesticated guavas, loquats, pears, peaches and the like. In Ceylon, at any rate, it is also to some extent insectivorous.

The breeding season extends from February to May. The nest is usually built at a height of 6 to 10 feet from the ground in a small sapling or evergreen shrub in dense dark forest where the light is very poor. Occasional nests are higher, even in a branch of a large tree. The nest is not as a rule particularly well concealed. It is very distinctive in character, being a shallow cup made almost entirely of green moss or fine grasses and bents, bound with cobwebs and lined with black rootlets or fine grass and slung as a rule between two twigs in a horizontal fork. The construction is firm and compact though some are so thin that the eggs can be seen through the bottom.

The usual clutch consists of two eggs though three are sometimes found. The egg is a moderately long and rather perfect oval, almost devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is dull white or pinkish-white and sometimes even warm salmon-pink, speckled more or less thickly, and often heavily, with pale reddish-brown or pink; these markings are usually more numerous at the broad end and occasionally form a cap.

The eggs average about 0.9 by 0.65 inches.