37. Common Bulbul The related and large group of birds – the Bulbuls, Greenbuls and Brownbuls – are mostly very difficult to distinguish and identify, though many of them are quite common within their various habitats. At first sight, it seems as if this is not the case with this bird: the aptly named Common Bulbul. It is very common indeed in suburban gardens, and noticeably different from (almost all of) the other bulbuls, greenbuls and brownbuls. The dark head and small crest and the yellow vent underneath the tail are clearly visible – if, that is, you need more clues than the omnipresence and cheerfully repetitive call. But the taxonomy is not that simple: some books distinguish between Pycnonotus barbatus, the Common Bulbul, and Pycnonotus tricolor, the Dark-capped Bulbul. One book gives them very different distributions across Africa; my most recent regards tricolor not as a distinct species but as another of three ‘races’ of barbatus. The difference between them concerns the colour of the belly: barbatus has a uniformly brown belly, tricolor’s is white. If pushed, I’d say ours are tricolor, which is to say Dark- capped; this would mean that bird No.37 is misnamed above. You might see whether you agree. Birds of AFRICAMA House 78 Birds of AFRICAMA House 79