Hypsipetes psaroides (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind_ ii, p. 77; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 444.
The Himalayan Black Bulbul breeds throughout the outer and lower
ranges of the Himalayas, at any rate from Bhootan to Afghanistan, at
elevations varying from 2000 to 6000 feet.
They lay mostly in May and June, but eggs may occasionally be met with
during the latter half of April.
The nest of _Hypsipetes psaroides_ is usually made of rather
coarse-bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves, and more
or less moss incorporated, and lined with very fine grass-stems and
roots of moss. A good deal of spider's web is often used exteriorly to
bind the nest together, or attach it more firmly to the fork in which
it rests. Its general shape is a moderately deep cup, the cavity
measuring some 2½ inches in diameter by 1½ inch in depth. The sides,
into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, vary from an inch to
a couple of inches in thickness. The bottom, loosely put together, is
rarely more than from a quarter to half an inch in depth. It appears
to be generally placed on the fork of a branch, at a moderate height
from the ground.
Four is the normal number of eggs, but I have more than once found
three partially incubated eggs in a nest.
From Darjeeling Mr. Gammie remarks:--"A nest of this bird, which I
took on the 17th June, at a height of nearly 50 feet from the ground,
on one of the topmost branches of a tree, contained three hard-set
eggs. This was below Rungbee, at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The
nest was a compact, moderately deep cup, composed of very fine twigs
and stems, and with a quantity of dead leaves incorporated in the
structure, especially towards its lower surface; it had no lining, but
the stems used towards the interior of the nest were somewhat finer
than the rest. Exteriorly the nest had a diameter of about 4·5 inches,
and a height of about 2·5; interiorly a diameter of about 2·5, and a
depth of nearly 1·5."