398 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



edged with pale rufous-buff ; the under tail coverts dull rufous-brown. 

 My specimens differ from a Tenasserimese skin (davisoni) in just 

 the characters attributed by Harington to bakeri, so that, although 

 no topotypical material has been examined, I have no hesitation in 

 placing them with the race of the Shan States. 



NAPOTHERA EPILEPIDOTA LAOTIANA (Delacour) 



Lao Streaked-breasted Wren Babbler 



Turdinulus epilepodotus laotianus Delacour, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 47, 1926, 

 pp. 17-18 (Chiang Kliwang, Laos). 



An adult male from Phu Kha, 4,500 feet, April 8, 1936, and another 

 from Kiu Chang Kong, April 29, 1936, are best placed under this 

 name. The race is probably fairly common and well distributed in 

 the evergreen of the more eastern provinces. 



From the preceding form it differs in having the supercilium and 

 throat white, the former with a very slight wash of rufous-buff, the 

 latter wholly free of this color; the olivaceous-brown of the lower 

 flanks more or less suffused with rufous ; the under tail coverts brighter 

 rufous-brown. 



N. e. laotiana has recently been synonymized with amyae but is 

 readily separable therefrom by its lesser dimensions and especially by 

 its smaller bill. In coloration it lies, as might be expected, between 

 amyae and clara, but since it cannot possibly be confused with either 

 one it may properly be restored to valid subspecific rank. 



De Schauensee and Ripley have suggested (Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. 

 Philadelphia, 1939, pp. 352-353) that either exsul or roberti must be 

 employed as the specific name for these birds. I suspect, however, that 

 diluta at Blangnanga and lucilleae at Meloewak may no more cor- 

 rectly be said to occur "together" in Sumatra than bakeri and laotiana 

 (and numerous other pairs of races) in northern Thailand. 



PNOEPYGA PTJSILLA PUSILLA Hodgson 



Indian Lesser Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler 



[Pnoepyga] pusillus [sic] Hodgson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 13, 1845, p. 25 



(Nepal). 

 Pnoepyga pusilla pusilla, Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 398 (Doi 



Langka ) . 



This tiny, apparently tailless bird is rather common in dense ever- 

 green forest, between 4,400 and 5,500 feet, on Doi Ang Ka, Doi Chiang 

 Dao, and Doi Langka ; it may confidently be expected to occur upon 

 other northern mountains where suitable conditions obtain. 



In deep, humid jungle, watered by small streams, I found the present 

 species, in the fashion of a true wren, creeping about moss-grown 



