Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE SONG BIRDS

THE BULBULS

(Family Pycnonotidce)

The Bulbuls, or Fruit Thrushes, constitute a large and fairly well circumscribed group of birds, often included among the Babbling Thrushes (Timeliidce), but differing from them, among other characters, in having relatively short tarsi and as a rule numerous and strong rictal bristles. Another character which seems to distinguish them is the presence of a greater or less number of”hairs”springing from the nape, these being frequently very long, but sometimes short and inconspicuous, though never, according to Mr. Oates, entirely absent. Their wings are normally short and rounded, but in some forms they are quite long and pointed, and in a few the secondaries are more or less elongated, while the tail is various, being commonly rounded, but sometimes it is square or graduated and rarely forked. In a few forms the tail-coverts nearly equal the rectrices in length, and a majority of them have the rump plumage long and fluffy; crests are of frequent occurrence.”The sexes are ordinarily alike in color, and the young closely, resemble the adult, the brighter colors being replaced for the first few weeks by paler tints of the same.”Most of them approximate eight or nine inches in length, while in coloration they are extremely variable, the usual hues being olive-brown, olive-green, or olive-yellow, but some are entirely black, others a beautiful turquoise, cobalt, or purple-blue, varied with crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow, rufous, etc.
The Bulbuls are for the most part gregarious and sociable birds of arboreal habits, frequenting gardens, orchards, bushy jungles, and forests, and while some of them may have rather harsh chattering or croaking notes, the majority possess a very melodious and cheerful song, which renders them familiar and welcome neighbors. Thus the Madras Bulbul (Molpastes fuscus), a fearless and very sprightly bird, often locates itself in close proximity to houses, not infrequently building its nest in verandas, where it becomes a universal favorite, and from its exceedingly sweet song is known as the Ceylon Nightingale. The food of these birds consists mainly of fruits, berries, and seeds, varied occasionally with insects, which are secured among the leaves and branches of trees, as they rarely, some of them never, visit the ground; their nests and eggs are variable, as will be shown under the few species selected for mention.

previous bird species next bird species