Otocompsa leucotis (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 91; _Hume. Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 459.
The White-eared Bulbul is, so far as my experience goes, entirely a
Western Indian form. In the cold weather it may be met with at Agra,
Cawnpoor, and even Jhansi, Saugor, and Hoshungabad; but during the
summer months I only know of its occurring in Cutch, Katywar, Sindh,
Rajpootana, and the Punjab. In all these localities it breeds, laying
for the most part in July and August in the Punjab, but somewhat
earlier in Sindh. I have, even in Rajpootana, seen eggs towards the
end of May, but this is the exception.
The nests are usually in dense and thorny bushes--acacias, catechu,
and jhand (_Prosopis spicigera_)--and are placed at heights of from
4 to 6 feet from the ground. The Customs hedge is a great place for
their nests, but I have noticed that they are partial to bushes in the
immediate neighbourhood of water; and at Hansie, whence he sent me
many nests and eggs, Mr. W. Blewitt always found them either in the
fort ditch or along the banks of the canal.
The nests, which very much resemble those of _Molpastes haemorrhous_,
are usually composed of very fine dry twigs of some herbaceous plant,
intermingled with vegetable fibre resembling tow, and scantily lined
with very fine grass-roots. They are rather slender structures,
shallow cups measuring internally from 2·5 to 3 inches in diameter,
and a little more than 1 inch in depth. Three was the largest number
of eggs I ever found in any nest, and several sets were fully
incubated.
Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note on the nidification of this
bird in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt
Range:--"Lay in May, June, and July: eggs four; shape ovato pyriform;
size 0·91 inch by 0·64 inch: colour white, much dotted with
claret-red; nest a neat cup of vegetable fibres in bushes,"
Mr. S. Doig informs us that this bird breeds on the Eastern Narra in
Sind from May to August.
Colonel Butler writes:--"I found a nest of the White-eared Bulbul at
Deesa on the 5th August containing three fresh eggs. It was placed
in the fork of a low Beer tree about 4 feet from the ground, and in
structure closely resembled the nest of _M. haemorrhous_.
"On the 17th August I found another nest built by the same pair of
birds in an exactly similar situation, about 60 yards from the first
nest, containing three more fresh eggs."
The eggs, which I need not here describe in detail, are precisely
similar to, but as a body slightly smaller than, those of _Molpastes
leucogenys_. The only point of difference that I seem to notice, and
this might disappear with a larger series before me, is that there is
a rather greater tendency in the eggs of this species to exhibit a
zone or cap. In length they vary from 0·75 to 0·9, and in breadth from
0·52 to 0·68; but the average of twenty-three eggs measured was 0·83
barely, by 0·64.