Mr. Benjamin Aitken, writing from Bombay under date the 11th June, says:—­“I now send you a nest of Pycnonotus luteolus with two eggs.  I took it this morning from, a thickly foliaged tree in a garden.  It was placed on the top of the main stem of the tree, which had been abruptly cut off about 5 feet from the ground, where the stem was about 3 inches thick.  The nest was begun this day week, Thursday, and the first egg was laid the day before yesterday (Tuesday).  The bird is a very common one in gardens in Bombay, though I never saw it in Berar nor even in Poona.  They build in situations similar to, but perhaps rather more sheltered than, those chosen by the Common Bulbul; but I remember finding one nest placed at a height of only 2 feet from the ground.

“This present nest was begun, as already mentioned, last Thursday, just two days after the first severe thunder-shower preliminary to the monsoon, now fairly on us.

“I draw your attention to the manner in which the nest has been tied at one place to a twig to prevent its being blown off its very (apparently) insecure site.  I was obliged to take the nest, as I was leaving at once, otherwise one or perhaps two more eggs would have been laid.”

The nest is a rather loose straggling structure, exteriorly composed of fine twigs.  The cavity, hemispherical in shape, is carefully lined with fine grass-stems.  Outside it is very irregularly shaped, and many of the twigs used are much too long and hang down several inches from the nest; but on one side the outer framework has been firmly tied with wool and a little cobweb to a live twig to which the leaves, now withered, are still attached.  No roots or hair have entered into the composition of this nest.

Mr. E. Aitken writes:—­“I once found a nest in Bombay, not many feet above the level of the sea of course.

“The first egg was laid on 14th September.  The nest was built in a bush on the edge of an inundated field, but in our garden.  It was fixed to a thin waving branch underneath the bush, which completely overshadowed it.  It was only 2 feet from the ground, a cup just large enough to hold the body of the bird, whose head and tail always projected over the edge; and it was made of thin twigs and neatly lined with coir.  The bird laid two eggs and then deserted the nest.  One of these, which I took, was thicker and rounder than a Bulbul’s, and thickly spotted with claret-coloured spots, which gathered into a ring at the larger end.

“The eggs were laid on successive days.  I think the birds had already had one brood (in another nest), for I saw apparently the same pair followed by a young one not long before.”

Dr. Jerdon says:—­“I found the nest in my garden at Nellore.  It was rather loosely made with roots, grass, and hair, placed in a hedge, and the eggs, four in number, were reddish white, with darker lake-red spots, exceedingly like those of the Common Bulbul.”