668 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



of pebbles some six inches across and about three deep and the nest was a 

 very neat grass-lined cup, about 2^" in diameter and about 1^" deep, 

 ( I did not measure it) embedded in the gravel with its lip flush with the 

 top of the heap. These pebbles must have been carried up by the birds. 

 I should be glad to know whether this is the usual form of nest of these 

 birds, as I have not seen it mentioned anywhere. Is the Rockchat a bird 

 that is changing its habits and extending its range ? Jerdon speaks of it as 

 " found at Saugor, Bhopal and Bundelkhand, extending towards Gwalior and 

 the N. W. Provinces". He goes on to say "It is a permanent resident of 

 Saugor and I have always found it on tlie sandstone hills there, among rocks 

 cliffs and loose stones, never coming to the cultivated ground below". 

 I have always found it most common in districts such as Banda and 

 Mirzapur, where there are plenty of rocky hills, but it is by no means 

 confined to the hills and frequents cultivated land. The part of Banda 

 where I found these nests was many miles from the hills. I have also foimd 

 it common, though to a lesser degree, in many other districts of the United 

 Provinces where there are no hills at all and nothing but cidtivated land. 

 At the same time it still seems to have a preference for anything suggesting 

 rocks, such as j)ucca buildings, and the form of the nests I found and the 

 fact of the usual means of access bemg through the small hole in the wall 

 suggested to me that the birds were following instincts inherited from some 

 time when they may have been confined to rocky country. But I imagine 

 that in any case Jerdon's information must have been incomplete and the 

 change in habits, if there has been one, cannot have taken place in the 

 50 years since he wrote. 



Hardoi, Oudh, 

 2^rd February 1919. 



L. S. WHITE. 



No. XIV.— A NOTE ON THE LARGE BROWN THRUSH 

 {ZOOTHEA MONTICOLA). 



I am sending you by post a skin of the Large Brown Thrush (Zoothea 

 monticola,) a bird which is fairly common in the thickly wooded nullah, 

 which extends from my vegetable garden to the top of the Binsar ridge and 

 down which runs a perennial stream. The elevation is from 7,300 to 

 nearly 8,000 feet. The description of the bird as given in the Fauna of 

 India is not quite complete, for instance, no reference is made to the white 

 webbing under the primary and secondary quills forming a broad bar 

 nearly across the inside of the wing which is quite noticeable during flight. 



In reference books to which I have access nothing appears to be recorded 

 regarding the habits or nidification of this bird. From personal observa- 

 tion I believe the bird obtains its food in the bed of the nullah raking 

 up fairly large stones with its powerful beak. It is a busy bird whilst 

 feeding, moving back with its tail lowered when a stone is displaced, and 

 then darting forward with its tail cocked and seizing any worm or insect 

 exposed by the removal of the stone. The favourite hunting ground of 

 this thrush appears to be accumulations of ooze and gravel at the base of 

 boulders and I have frequently noticed the scratching of this bird and 

 the probings of Woodcocks in the same places. It is a shy bird and will 

 not brook close observation. Its flight is rapid and is more like that of 

 a dipper than of a thrush. The flight is generally up or down stream, but 

 when much disturbed it darts through the thick underwood and makes for 

 the next nullah ; in fact although I have observed quite a number of these 

 birds during the past five years, I have never seen one in anything like 



