Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/440

396 (411) Otocompsa emeria fuscicaudata.

Vernacular names. Phari-bulhul (Hind.); Turaka pigli-pitta (Tel. ); Konda-Kloti-Kurari (Travancore).

Description. Differs from the Bengal bird in being much duller brown above, in having the necklace complete on the breast or only very slightly interrupted and in having no white tips to the tail-feathers.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; bill, legs and feet black.

Measurements. A rather smaller bird than the northern; wing 83 to 90 mm. and other measurements in proportion.

Distribution. South India, meeting the last form in South Orissa and Western Bengal; the whole of the Western Ghats to Rajputana and in Central India to the Central Provinces and Behar.

Nidification. Similar to that of O. e. emeria but it lays only two or three eggs in a clutch and more often two than three. Fifty eggs average 22.3 × 16.1 mm. and the extremes are 24.6 × 16.4, 22.6 × 18.0 and 19.9 × 15.0 mm. They are like those of the last bird, but vary even less than they do. The breeding season is chietly in March and. April but many nests may be found from February to August and odd ones in almost any month of the year. They breed up to at least 7,000 feet and are more entirely restricted to gardens and cultivation than the Bengal bird. They are extremely confiding and frequently breed in creepers on verandahs and house walls.

Habits. The Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul is in the South the same as its Bengal cousin is in the North. Cheerful, energetic, confiding and ubiquitous, it is almost as common as the Sparrow at home in England and infinitely more pleasing.

(412) Otocompsa emeria peguensis, subsp. nov.

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Vernacular names. Boh-ka-lone (Burmese).

Description. Similar to the Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul but with broad fulvous-white tips to the tail-feathers as in emeria. In O. e. fuscicaudata the brown of the back is perhaps not quite so dull as it is in this form, a faint tinge of ochre-red showing in some lights.

Colours of soft parts. Iris hazel; legs, feet and bill black.

Measurements. This is the smallest of the three races; wing 75 to 85 mm., in one case 88 mm.; tail 77 to 81 mm.