THE RED-VENTED BULBUL
MoLPASTES CAFER (Linnaeus)
(Plate X, Fig. 2, opposite page 198)
Description:-
Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head and throat glossy-black; the whole body and closed wings brown, the feathers of the wings, upper back, and breast edged with whitish, giving a scaled appearance, the lower abdomen and upper tail-coverts SO pale as to be almost white ; tail brown at base, darkening till it is almost black before the white tips of the feathers ; a crimson patch under the tail.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification:-
Throughout India. A common garden bird, cheerful and rather noisy in demeanour; earthy-brown in colour with a black, slightly crested head, white-tipped tail, and a bright red patch under the base of the latter.
Distribution:-
The Common or Red-vented Bulbul is a very widely-spread species, occurring throughout the Indian Empire and extending to the east as far as China. With such a large and varied range it is inevitably divided up into several races which with their intermediate forms and areas are somewhat difficult to define; but the main difficulties occur in the forms that are found east of Assam. In the area covered by this work the division of the races is easily understood so long as it is recognised that the boundaries of the races about to be mentioned are not clearly defined, and in the intermediate areas between them birds will be found which cannot be clearly referred to one or other form.
Along the Himalayas together with the plains country about their base, we have an Eastern and a Western form meeting somewhere about Kumaon and Western Nepal. The Western bird is M. c, intermedius, found through Kashmir and the extreme North-west from Kohat down to about the Salt Range and along the Himalayas to Kumaon; its range steadily narrows as it progresses eastwards taking in less and less plains country. It is found commonly up to about 4000 feet and in smaller numbers a little higher to 5500 feet.
The East Himalayan bird from Nepal to Assam is M, c. bengalensis, and this, while not occurring so high in the hills, only exceptionally above 4500 feet, has a wider distribution in the plains through the Eastern United Provinces, Northern Bihar, Eastern Bengal, up to North-west Cachar and Eastern Assam. South of the area occupied by these two forms, M, c, pallidus extends on the west down to Ahmednagar and Khandesh, and M, c, saturatus on the east down to the Godavari. Southern India and Ceylon are occupied by M, c, cafer, which, while occurring normally up to about 2000 feet, follows the progress of man higher into the hills, even up to 8000 feet in the Nilgiris.
These races are distinguished by the amount of black in the plumage and also in some cases by size. A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc:-
The Red-vented Bulbul is, in its various local forms, one of the best-known birds of India, as it is very common and very attached to the haunts of man, being essentially a garden bird. It is, however, found in all types of country, though by preference it eschews both heavy forest and barren plains. It is arboreal, the short weak legs not being adapted to progression on the ground though the bird sometimes descends to it to pick up food. The flight is quick and strong, though seldom sustained for any distance, and the beat of the wings is distinctly audible.
The Bulbul is usually met with in pairs and has a very evident affection for its mate ; this fact, together with its sprightly demeanour, boldness, handsome coloration, and cheerful call-notes, contributes to make it a general favourite. It is one of the birds that everyone notices, Indian and European alike. Indians frequently tame it and carry it about the bazaars, tied with a string to the finger or to a little crutched perch, which is often made of precious metals or jade; while there are few Europeans who do not recollect Eha's immortal phrase anent the red patch in the seat of its trousers.
Occasionally small parties of this Bulbul are met with, and numbers often collect together at a spot where some particular food is plentiful or for the purpose of roosting ; but normally the bird Can not be described as gregarious. At times, generally in the evenings, Bulbuls indulge in " fly-catching," sitting on the top of a bush or small tree, launching out continuously for short flights in the air, and returning again and again to the same perch.
But our friend has two vices. He is very quarrelsome and a plucky fighter, and this is part of the secret of his attraction as a pet for his Indian owners ; for one of the essential ingredients of a pet in the East is that it should be a vehicle for gambling, and the owner of a good-fighting Bulbul may pocket many a small bet. Our friend is also apt to be destructive in the garden, damaging fruit and flowers and Spoiling many a promising row of peas; though the unseen good that he does in the way of keeping down insect pests probably outweighs this more obvious damage.
There is something extremely cheerful and attractive about the voice of this Bulbul, though he has only one or two call-notes and no song. Yet for all time he will be credited with the reputation of a famous songster owing to the association in Persian literature between the song of the Bulbul, and the scent of roses, and the amorous delights of Persian gardens. The Bulbul of Persian literature is, however, as a matter of fact, another bird, a race of the Nightingale (Daulias philomela africana).The breeding season lasts, according to locality, from February to August, but most nests will be found in May and June. Two broods are probably reared.
The nest is a neat cup composed of dry grass stems and the finest twigs and shoots of tamarisk, lined with fine roots and horse-hairs, and intermingled with dry leaves and scraps of lichen. It is placed usually in a bush or shrub between 4 and 10 feet above the ground, but is often found in a variety of unusual situations as high as 40 feet.
Two to four eggs are laid. The egg is a rather long oval slightly compressed towards the smaller end ; the texture is smooth and fragile and there is very little gloss. The ground-colour is pinkish- or reddish-white, marked with red, brownish-red, and purplish-red, with secondary markings of pale inky-purple. The markings take every conceivable form of spot, Speck, blotch, and streak, and are usually so thick as practically to conceal the paler ground, but in many eggs they collect into zones and caps about the broad end.
The average measurement is about 0.90 by 0.65 inches.
MoLPASTES CAFER (Linnaeus)
(Plate X, Fig. 2, opposite page 198)
Description:-
Length 8 inches. Sexes alike. The whole head and throat glossy-black; the whole body and closed wings brown, the feathers of the wings, upper back, and breast edged with whitish, giving a scaled appearance, the lower abdomen and upper tail-coverts SO pale as to be almost white ; tail brown at base, darkening till it is almost black before the white tips of the feathers ; a crimson patch under the tail.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Field Identification:-
Throughout India. A common garden bird, cheerful and rather noisy in demeanour; earthy-brown in colour with a black, slightly crested head, white-tipped tail, and a bright red patch under the base of the latter.
Distribution:-
The Common or Red-vented Bulbul is a very widely-spread species, occurring throughout the Indian Empire and extending to the east as far as China. With such a large and varied range it is inevitably divided up into several races which with their intermediate forms and areas are somewhat difficult to define; but the main difficulties occur in the forms that are found east of Assam. In the area covered by this work the division of the races is easily understood so long as it is recognised that the boundaries of the races about to be mentioned are not clearly defined, and in the intermediate areas between them birds will be found which cannot be clearly referred to one or other form.
Along the Himalayas together with the plains country about their base, we have an Eastern and a Western form meeting somewhere about Kumaon and Western Nepal. The Western bird is M. c, intermedius, found through Kashmir and the extreme North-west from Kohat down to about the Salt Range and along the Himalayas to Kumaon; its range steadily narrows as it progresses eastwards taking in less and less plains country. It is found commonly up to about 4000 feet and in smaller numbers a little higher to 5500 feet.
The East Himalayan bird from Nepal to Assam is M, c. bengalensis, and this, while not occurring so high in the hills, only exceptionally above 4500 feet, has a wider distribution in the plains through the Eastern United Provinces, Northern Bihar, Eastern Bengal, up to North-west Cachar and Eastern Assam. South of the area occupied by these two forms, M, c, pallidus extends on the west down to Ahmednagar and Khandesh, and M, c, saturatus on the east down to the Godavari. Southern India and Ceylon are occupied by M, c, cafer, which, while occurring normally up to about 2000 feet, follows the progress of man higher into the hills, even up to 8000 feet in the Nilgiris.
These races are distinguished by the amount of black in the plumage and also in some cases by size. A strictly resident species.
Habits, etc:-
The Red-vented Bulbul is, in its various local forms, one of the best-known birds of India, as it is very common and very attached to the haunts of man, being essentially a garden bird. It is, however, found in all types of country, though by preference it eschews both heavy forest and barren plains. It is arboreal, the short weak legs not being adapted to progression on the ground though the bird sometimes descends to it to pick up food. The flight is quick and strong, though seldom sustained for any distance, and the beat of the wings is distinctly audible.
The Bulbul is usually met with in pairs and has a very evident affection for its mate ; this fact, together with its sprightly demeanour, boldness, handsome coloration, and cheerful call-notes, contributes to make it a general favourite. It is one of the birds that everyone notices, Indian and European alike. Indians frequently tame it and carry it about the bazaars, tied with a string to the finger or to a little crutched perch, which is often made of precious metals or jade; while there are few Europeans who do not recollect Eha's immortal phrase anent the red patch in the seat of its trousers.
Occasionally small parties of this Bulbul are met with, and numbers often collect together at a spot where some particular food is plentiful or for the purpose of roosting ; but normally the bird Can not be described as gregarious. At times, generally in the evenings, Bulbuls indulge in " fly-catching," sitting on the top of a bush or small tree, launching out continuously for short flights in the air, and returning again and again to the same perch.
But our friend has two vices. He is very quarrelsome and a plucky fighter, and this is part of the secret of his attraction as a pet for his Indian owners ; for one of the essential ingredients of a pet in the East is that it should be a vehicle for gambling, and the owner of a good-fighting Bulbul may pocket many a small bet. Our friend is also apt to be destructive in the garden, damaging fruit and flowers and Spoiling many a promising row of peas; though the unseen good that he does in the way of keeping down insect pests probably outweighs this more obvious damage.
There is something extremely cheerful and attractive about the voice of this Bulbul, though he has only one or two call-notes and no song. Yet for all time he will be credited with the reputation of a famous songster owing to the association in Persian literature between the song of the Bulbul, and the scent of roses, and the amorous delights of Persian gardens. The Bulbul of Persian literature is, however, as a matter of fact, another bird, a race of the Nightingale (Daulias philomela africana).The breeding season lasts, according to locality, from February to August, but most nests will be found in May and June. Two broods are probably reared.
The nest is a neat cup composed of dry grass stems and the finest twigs and shoots of tamarisk, lined with fine roots and horse-hairs, and intermingled with dry leaves and scraps of lichen. It is placed usually in a bush or shrub between 4 and 10 feet above the ground, but is often found in a variety of unusual situations as high as 40 feet.
Two to four eggs are laid. The egg is a rather long oval slightly compressed towards the smaller end ; the texture is smooth and fragile and there is very little gloss. The ground-colour is pinkish- or reddish-white, marked with red, brownish-red, and purplish-red, with secondary markings of pale inky-purple. The markings take every conceivable form of spot, Speck, blotch, and streak, and are usually so thick as practically to conceal the paler ground, but in many eggs they collect into zones and caps about the broad end.
The average measurement is about 0.90 by 0.65 inches.
