In the first days of March the bulbuls begin to breed.  In 1912 the writer saw a pair of bulbuls (Otocompsa emeria) building a nest on the 3rd March.  By the 10th the structure was complete and held the full clutch of three eggs.  On that date a second nest was found containing three eggs.

In 1913 the writer first saw a bulbul’s nest on the 5th March.  This belonged to Molpastes bengalensis and contained two eggs.  On the following day the full clutch of three was in the nest.

The nesting season for these birds terminates in the rains.

The common bulbuls of the plains belong to two genera—­Molpastes and Otocompsa.  The former is split up into a number of local species which display only small differences in appearance and interbreed freely at the places where they meet.  They are known as the Madras, the Bengal, the Punjab, etc., red-vented bulbul.  They are somewhat larger than sparrows.  The head, which bears a short crest, and the face are black; the rest of the body, except a patch of bright red under the tail, is brown, each feather having a pale margin.

In Otocompsa the crest is long and rises to a sharp point which curves forward a little over the beak.  The breast is white, set off by a black gorget.  There is the usual red patch under the tail and a patch of the same hue on each side of the face, whence the English name for the bird—­the red-whiskered bulbul.

Molpastes and Otocompsa have similar habits.  They are feckless little birds that build cup-shaped nests in all manner of queer and exposed situations.  Those that live near the habitations of Europeans nestle in low bushes in the garden, or in pot plants in the verandah.  Small crotons are often selected, preferably those that do not bear a score of leaves.  The sitting bulbul does not appear to mind the daily shower-bath it receives when the mali waters the plant.  Sometimes as many as three or four pairs of bulbuls attempt to rear up families in one verandah.  The word “attempt” is used advisedly, because, owing to the exposed situations in which nests are built, large numbers of eggs and young bulbuls are destroyed by boys, cats, snakes and other predaceous creatures.  The average bulbul loses six broods for every one it succeeds in rearing.  The eggs are pink with reddish markings.

March is the month in which to look for the nest of the Indian wren-warbler (Prinia inornata). Inornata is a very appropriate specific name for this tiny earth-brown bird, which is devoid of all kind of ornamentation.  Its voice is as homely as its appearance—­a harsh but plaintive twee, twee, twee.  It weaves a nest which looks like a ragged loofah with a hole in the side.  The nest is usually placed low down in a bush or in long grass.  Sometimes it is attached to two or more stalks of corn.  In such cases the corn is often cut before the young birds have had time to leave the nest, and then the brood perishes.  This species brings up a second family in the rainy season.