Mr. J.R.  Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, Eastern Bengal, says:—­“Excessively common and a permanent resident; commits great havoc in gardens amongst tomatoes and chillies, the red colour of which seems to attract them.  Builds its nest in very exposed places and at all heights from two to thirty feet off the ground, in bushes and trees.  One nest I saw containing two young ones, on the 28th June, was built on a small date-tree which stood on the side of a road along which people were passing all day, and within six feet of them.  The nest was only five feet from the ground, but the materials of which it was made and the colour of the bird assimilated so perfectly with the bark of the tree that detection was difficult.  I have found the nests with eggs from the 3rd of April to the end of June; dead leaves and cobwebs were incorporated with the twigs and grasses in all nests which I have seen in Dacca.  The natives keep these birds for fighting purposes; large sums are lost at times on these combats.”

Writing from Nepal, Dr. Scully remarks:—­“It breeds in May and June in the Residency grounds, the nests being very commonly placed in small pine-trees (Pinus longifolia).  Three is the usual number of eggs found, and a clutch taken on the 29th May measured in length from 0.85 to 0.93, and in breadth from 0.64 to 0.65.”

I have fully described the leading types of the eggs of these Bulbuls under Molpastes haemorrhous.  I shall therefore only here say that the eggs of this species in shape and colour exactly resemble those of its congener, but that as a body they are larger in size; every variety observable in the eggs of the one is, as far as I know, to be met with amongst those of the other.  Taking only the eggs of typical birds from Lower Bengal and Sikhim, they vary from 0.88 to 1.05 in length and from 0.67 to 0.75 in breadth.

283.  Molpastes intermedius (A.  Hay). The Punjab Red-vented Bulbul.

All my specimens from the Salt Range belong to this species, and not to M. bengalensis, so that Mr. W. Theobald’s remarks in regard to the Common Bulbul’s nidification about Pind Dadan Khan and the Salt Range must refer to this species.  He says:  “Lay in May, June, and July; eggs, four:  shape, blunt ovato-pyriform; size, 0.87 by 0.62; colour, deep pink, blotched with deep claret-red; nest, a neat cup of vegetable fibres in bushes.”

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T.  Marshall writes:—­“This Bulbul breds in large numbers on the lower hills.”

From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton remarked:—­“This is more properly a Dhoon species, as although it does ascend the hills, it is represented there to a great extent by M. leucogenys.  It breeds in April, May, and June, constructing its nest in some thick bush.  On the 12th May one nest contained three eggs of a rosy-white, thickly irrorated and blotched with purple or deep claret colour, and at the larger end confluently stained with dull purple, appearing