nally it was as usual
chiefly composed of the withered stems of the little asteraceous
plant, interwoven with a few jhow-shoots (_Tamarix dioica_) and a
little tow-like fibre of the putsan (_Hibiscus cannabinus_), while
a good deal of cobweb was applied externally here and there. The
interior was lined with excessively fine stems of some herbaceous
exogenous plant, and there did not appear to be a single dead leaf or
a single particle of grass in the whole nest.

"The eggs, however, in both nests, three in each, closely resembled
each other, being of a delicate pink ground, with reddish-brown and
purplish-grey spots and blotches nearly equally distributed over the
whole surface of the egg, the reddish brown in places becoming almost
a maroon-red. Two eggs, however, that we took out of a nest,
similar to the first in structure but situated like the second in a
mango-tree, were of a somewhat different character and very different
in tint. The ground was dingy reddish pink, and the whole of the egg
was thickly mottled all over with very deep blood-red, the mottlings
being so thick at the large end as to form an almost perfectly
confluent cap. Altogether the colouring of these two eggs reminded one
of richly coloured types of _Neophron's_ eggs. Some of the Bulbuls'
eggs that we have taken earlier in the season were much feebler
coloured than any of those obtained to-day, and presented a very
different appearance, with a pinkish-white ground, and only moderately
thickly but very uniformly speckled all over with small spots of light
purplish grey, light reddish brown, and very dark brown. These eggs
scarcely seem to belong to the same bird as the boldly blotched and
richly-mottled specimens that we have taken to-day."

Writing from the neighbourhood of Delhi, Mr. F.R. Blewitt says: "This
Bulbul breeds from the middle of May to about the middle of August.
Its selection of a tree for its nest is arbitrary, as I have found the
latter on almost every variety of bush and tree. The nest is neatly
cup-shaped, generally fragile in structure, though I have seen many a
nest strong and compact. The outer diameter of the nest varies from 3
to nearly 4 inches, and the inner diameter from 2 to almost 3 inches.

"The chief material of the nest is, on the outside, coarse grass, with
fine _khus_ or fine grass for the lining. Very frequently horsehair is
likewise used for lining the interior of the cavity.

"I have seen some nests bound ro