through the press.
It was after this that his real troubles began. Several changes took
place between the interval of the passing of the final proof and the
appearance of the book, so that the unfortunate author in his desire
to be up to date had to insert in each volume a slip to the effect
that the American Ornithologists' Union had in the course of the past
few days changed the name of no fewer than three genera; consequently
the genus Glaux had again become Cryptoglaux, and the genera Trochilus
and Coturniculus had become, respectively, Archilochus and
Ammodramus! But we are wandering away from our black bulbuls. The
hillmen call the Himalayan species the _Ban Bakra_, which means the
jungle goat. Why it should be so named I have not an idea, unless
it be because the bird habitually "plays the goat!"

Black bulbuls seem never to descend to the ground; they keep almost
entirely to the tops of lofty trees and so occur only in well-wooded
parts of the hills. When the rhododendrons are in flower, these birds
partake very freely of the nectar enclosed within their crimson
calyces. Now, I am fully persuaded that the nectar of flowers is an
intoxicant to birds, and of course this will account, not only in
part for the rowdiness of the black bulbuls, but for the pugnacity
of those creatures, such as sunbirds, which habitually feed upon this
stimulating diet. Black bulbuls, like sunbirds, get well dusted with
pollen while diving into flowers after nectar, and so probably act
the part of insects as regards the cross-fertilisation of large
flowers. In respect of nesting habits, black bulbuls conform more
closely to the ways of their tribe than they do in other matters.
The nesting season is early spring. The nursery, which is built in
a tree, not in a bush, is a small cup composed largely of moss, dried
grass, and leaves, held together by being well smeared with cobweb.
The eggs have a pink background, much spotted with reddish purple.
They display a great lack of uniformity as regards both shape and
colouring.

_A WARBLER OF DISTINCTION_

So great is the number of species of warbler which either visit India
every winter or remain always in the country, so small and
insignificant in appearance are these birds, so greatly do they
resemble one another, and so similar are their habits, that even the
expert ornithologist cannot identify the majority of them unless,
having the skin in one hand and a key to the warblers i