Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/106

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THE BULBULS.

the white of the throat more conspicuous. The head and crest are black, and it has the red patch under the tail which belongs to the livery of the family. Its nests and eggs are very like those of the common Bulbul and may be found at any time of the year.

In the preface to these papers I mentioned that I once bought a pair of Persian (or Sind) Bulbuls in the Crawford Market, one of which escaped, but appeared in the garden next day with a companion. I have since heard that this bird is often to be seen now on Malabar Hill, and I have seen a pair myself across the harbour, so I suppose it is in a fair way to become one of the birds of Bombay. This bird is very like the Redwhiskered Bulbul, but the cheeks are broadly white, not red, and the patch under the tail is yellow. Next there is a second cousin, which Jerdon calls the Whitebrowed Bush Bulbul (Ixos luteolus). This is a clumsier bird than the other Bulbuls, uncrested and clad in an unæsthetic garb of brownish-greenish olive, passing into dusky greenish-yellowish white on the under parts. There is no bright colour about it, not even under its modest tail, but its eyebrows are conspicuously white. It goes about the garden in pairs and every now and then utters a loud, abrupt, rattling, but mellifluous snatch of a song. This bird is not found generally throughout India, but affects certain localities, and one of these localities is the island of Bombay. Nowhere have I found it more common. Its nest and eggs are very like those of the Common Bulbul, but it is a much deeper bird and will neither build where any crow may find, nor betray its secret by coming and going when an enemy is looking on. It usually builds on a swinging branch near the ground.