380 BULLETIN 18 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The adult has the entire upperparts dark olivaceous-brown (slightly 

 more rufous on the wings and tail), the feathers of the forehead and 

 crown narrowly edged darker to give a scaly appearance ; the lores and 

 superciliary region ashy; the ear coverts ashy brown; the chin and 

 throat grayish white, the feathers tipped with small sagittate marks ; 

 the remaining underparts rufous-buff, albescent on the center of the 

 abdomen. 



PELLORNEUM TICKELLI OCHRACEUM (Kinnear) 



Lao Buff-breasted Babbler 



Drymocataphus tickelli ochraceus Kinneae, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 55, 1934, 

 p. 53. New name for Drymocataphus tickelli olivaceus Kinnear, 1924 (Bao 

 Ha, Tongking), not P[ello?neum] olivaceum Jerdon, 1839, nor Mixornis 

 olivaceus Tickell, 1859 [=Pellorneum tickelli Blyth 1859]. 



Drymocataphus tickelli, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, 

 p. 58 (PhaKho). 



Drymocataphus tickelli tickelli [partim], Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 481 (Pha 

 Kho). 



Pellorneum tickelli (apparently P. t. olivaceum), Rogeks and Deignan, Proc. Biol. 

 Soc. Washington, 1934, p. 92 (Doi Aug Ka). 



Pellorneum tickelli olivaceum, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1934, p. 190 (Doi Chiang Dao). 



Drymocataphus tickelli olivaceus, Kiley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 332 

 (Khun Tan). 



The buff-breasted babbler is generally distributed across the north- 

 ern provinces in districts of dense evergreen or even mixed-deciduous 

 forest but is everywhere apparently rare and especially so in the 

 country west of the Khun Tan range. Specimens have been taken at 

 Doi Mae Kong Ka, Ban Samoeng, Doi Ang Ka at 4,400 feet, Doi Suthep 

 at 3,800 feet (sole record), Doi Chiang Dao at 4,000 feet, Doi Nang 

 Kaeo, Doi Khun Tan at 3,000 feet, Pha Kho, Huai Oi, Ban Hai Huai 

 Som, Phu Kha, and Kiu Chang Kong. 



This retiring species feeds silently on or near the ground in the most 

 tangled thickets and is, accordingly, seldom seen. De Schauensee 

 states (1934) that he captured one example in a trap set for pittas. 



I collected specimens with the gonads enlarged at Ban Hai Huai 

 Som, March 28, and at Huai Oi, April 5, and others in postnuptial 

 molt between October 22 and November 7. 



An adult female had the irides bright brown ; the eyelids edged pale 

 orange; the maxilla dark horny brown, with the edges of the com- 

 missure fleshy white ; the mandible with the apical half fleshy, the basal 

 half fleshy white; the interior of the mouth light yellow; the feet, 

 toes, and claws fleshy. 



It has the entire upperparts olivaceous-brown (slightly more ru- 

 fous on the wings and tail), the feathers of the forehead and crown 

 with buffy shaft streaks ; the sides of the head brownish buff, the ear 



