e held up in copy-books as an example to youth, a veritable
"Captain Desmond, V.C." Bulbuls of the nobler sort pair for life,
and the harmony of their conjugal existence is rarely marred by
quarrels; they behave after marriage as they did in the days of
courtship: they love to sit on a leafy bough, close up against one
another, and express their mutual admiration and affection by means
of a cheery, if rather feeble, lay. They build a model nest in which
prettily-coloured eggs are deposited. These they make but little
attempt to conceal, for they are birds without guile. But, alas, their
artlessness often results in a rascally lizard or squirrel eating
the eggs for his breakfast. When their eggs are put to this base use,
the bulbuls, to quote "Eha," are "sorry," but their grief is
short-lived. Within a few hours of the tragedy they are twittering
gaily to one another, and in a wonderfully short space of time a new
clutch of eggs replaces the old one. If this shares the fate of the
first set, some more are laid, so that eventually a family of bulbuls
hatches out.

Such is, in brief, the character of the great majority of bulbuls;
they present a fine example of rewarded virtue, for these amiable
little birds are very abundant; they flourish like the green bay tree.
As at least one pair is to be found in every Indian garden, they
exemplify the truth of the saying, the meek "shall inherit the earth,"
and give a new meaning to the expression, "the survival of the
fittest." There are, however, some bulbuls which are so unlike the
birds described above that the latter might reasonably deny
relationship to them as indignantly as some human beings decline to
acknowledge apes and monkeys as poor relations. As we have seen, most
bulbuls are inoffensive, respectable birds, that lead a quiet,
domesticated life. The cock and hen are so wrapped up in one another
as to pay little heed to the outer world. Not so the black bulbuls.
These are the antithesis of everything bulbuline. They are aggressive,
disreputable-looking creatures, who go about in disorderly, rowdy
gangs. The song of most bulbuls consists of many pleasant, blithe
tinkling notes; that of the black bulbul, or at any rate of the
Himalayan black bulbul, is scarcely as musical as the bray of the
ass. Most bulbuls are pretty birds and are most particular about their
personal appearance. Black bulbuls are as untidy as it is possible
for a bird to be. The two types of bulbul st