Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/420

376 often pointed, ovals. Fifty eggs average 23.6 × 17.3 mm., the extremes being 25.5 × 18.0 mm., 22.1 × 17.6 mm. and 24.0 × 16.3 mm. The greatest length and breadth occurs in the same egg.

Habits. The Brown-eared Bulbuls come well into the plains in winter but in summer keep above 2,000 feet and ascend to 6,000 or perhaps 7,000 feet. They collect in very large flocks containing 20 to 30 individuals and haunt both the higher trees and low scrub and brushwood. They are noisy birds and have many harsh notes but they also have a rather pretty, jerky little song which they sing at all seasons. They keep much to the more open wooded parts until the breeding season commences, when they retire to the deeper forests. They have a curious habit of swinging themselves on the pliant ends of the small bamboo, Bambusa vulgaris, several birds often perching on the same hanging end and evidently enjoying themselves as they sway in the breeze.

(392) Hemixus flavala davisoni.

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Vernacular names. Nyen-boh-ka-lone (Burmese).

Description. Differs from H. fl. flavala in having the entire crown and nape a rich dark brown, the upper parts a paler brown and the yellow on the wings less in extent; the breast is ashy rather than grey.

Colours of soft parts as in the last.

Measurements. This race seems to average a trifle larger than the last, the wing being between 97 and 102 mm.

Distribution. Tenasserim, Meetan and Thoungyah.

Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded beyond Davison's statement that it is confined to the hill-forests of the southern half of Tenasserim.

(393) Hemixus flavala hildebrandi.

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Vernacular names. Nyen-boh-ka-lone (Burmese.)

Description. Differs from Davison's Brown-eared Bulbul in having the head still darker, almost a blackish brown and the upper parts more grey and less brown.

Colours of soft parts similar to those of the other races.