the eggs vary from 0.9 to 1.15, and in breadth from 0.7 to
0.78; but the average of twenty-five eggs measured is 1.03 by 0.75.

271. Hypsipetes ganeesa, Sykes. _The Southern-Indian Black Bulbul_.

Hypsipetes neilgherriensis, _Jerd._; _Jerd. B. Ind._
ii, p. 78; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 445.
Hypsipetes ganeesa, _Sykes, Jerd. t.c._ p. 78.

Mr. Davison tells me that "this species breeds from April to about the
middle of June. The nest is generally placed from 12 to 20 feet from
the ground, in some dense clump of leaves; favourite sites are the
bunches of parasitic plants with which nearly every acacia, and in
fact nearly every other tree about Ootacamund, is covered. The nest is
composed exteriorly of moss, dry leaves, and roots, lined with roots
and fibres: the normal number of eggs is two; they are white with
claret-coloured and purplish spots."

A nest of this species taken at Coonoor on the 14th March, 1869,
by Mr. Carter, to whom I owe this and many other nests from the
Nilghiris, reminds one much of those of the Red-cheeked Bulbuls.
A wisp of dry grass and dead leaves, with the dead leaves greatly
predominating exteriorly, twisted into a shallow cup, some 41/2 inches
in diameter externally, and with a shallow depression tolerably neatly
lined with finer grass-stems measuring some 3 inches across and
perhaps an inch in depth. The bottom of the nest is almost exclusively
composed of dead leaves; while even in the sides, externally, little
but these are visible, only a few grass-stems crossing in and out,
here and there, sufficiently to keep the leaves in their places.

Mr. Wait remarks, writing from Coonoor:--"Our Black Bulbul breeds from
March to June. It builds a cup-shaped nest neatly and firmly made.
Outside, the nest is chiefly composed, as a rule, of green moss,
grass-stalks, and fibres, while inside it is lined with fine stalks
and hair. The cavity is from 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter and about
half that depth. Two is certainly the normal number of eggs; indeed, I
have never found more."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The
Ibis':--"It breeds in lofty trees in the Nilghiris, building a shallow
cup-shaped nest, from 20 to 60 feet from the ground. The nest is
constructed of the dried stems of the wild forget-me-not, and lined
with a moss much resembling black horsehair. The eggs, which are two
in number, are pretty thickly spotted with pale lilac and claret on
a light pink g