260 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



bushes from 4 to 8 feet from the ground, and in passing through the 

 thick jungle at elevations of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in April and 

 May the nest is continually met with. The usual or rather invariable 

 number of eggs is two. The ground colour reddish-pink, with blotch- 

 ings and markings of red and darker shades of the ground colour. 



The average size is 0-8 X 0*6." 



(19) Rhopocichla. atriceps. — The Black-fronted Babbler. 

 Oates, No. 166 ; Jerdon, No. 390. 



I have only taken this bird at elevations of 2,000 feet and upwards. 

 It is not so common as the next species ; but is found sparingly through- 

 out the lull range which it ascends to 4,000 feet. 



(20) Rhopocichla bourdillonl — Bourdillon's Babbler. 



Oates, No. 167. 



This babbler is found only in Travancore where it is common 

 throughout the whole of the hill range. It goes about in small parties 

 and frequents the underwood, uttering a low chattering continually. 

 It is perhaps more frequently met with at about 2,000 feet, but I have 

 shot it at 6,000 feet on the High Range and also at Kutyani in the 

 low country eight miles from Trevandrum. Mr. T. F. Bourdillon 

 writes : — " 1 once had the nest of this bird brought to me with the bird 

 itself and have since twice taken the nest myself. In the last instance the 

 nest was placed within two feet of the ground and was a domed structure 

 not unlike that of Ochromela nigrirufa } but in addition to the exterior 

 frame of woven eerul leaves, there was a lining of very fine roots. Both 

 nests contained a couple of eggs, one pair being slightly incubated. 

 This bird builds at rather high elevations, viz., from 2,000 feet to the 

 summit of the hills, and prefers the outskirts of the forest unlike A, 

 phozocephala which always builds far in. The breeding season is from 

 March to May. The eggs are white, sparingly spotted with purplish- 

 brown over most of the egg, but at the top the spots form a zone. 

 Size 0-75 X 0'52." 



Sub-family Brachypterygin^e. 



(21) Myiophoneus horsfieldii. — The Malabar Whittling Thrush. 



Oates, No. 189 ; Jerdon, No. 342. 



The inconsequent but mellow notes of this thrush, which have earned 



for it the name of the drunken plough-boy, may be heard in the 



neighbourhood of running water at all elevations in the forest- clad hills. 



Mr. F. W. Bourdillon says : — l< I have known this species to build on 



ledges of rocks and in a hollow tree overhanging a stream, in either 



