TIMALIN.i:. 19 



in small flocks, flying from branch to branch of low trees ; is 

 silent, and lives chiefly on various insects. 



390. Alcippe atriceps, Jerdon. 



Brachypteryx, apud Jeudon, Cat. 78 — Blytu, Cat. 8G1. 



The Black-headed Wren-babbler. 



Descr. — Head, cheeka, and nape, black ; wings, tail, and luider 

 tail-coverts brownish oHvc, darkest on the tail and wings ; 

 beneath, white, with a tinge of olive-brown on the sides and 

 towards the vent. 



Bill horny -brown; legs plumbeous; irides pale orange or biifl'. 

 Length 5i inches ; wing 2-^^ ; tall 2 ; bill at front j'j ; tarsus ^'^^ ; 

 extent 7. 



Tiic Black-headed Wren-babbler is found in the same localities 

 as the last, but not ascending so high on the slopes of the hills, 

 and being most abundant in the lower forests, contrary to the 

 habits of the previous species. 



It frequents the thickest underwood in dense and lofty jungles ; 

 lives in small flocks of five or six, and is continually hopping about 

 the thick bushes with an incessant loud twitterin"- note. It lives 

 on various insects, small mantidce, grass-hoppers, and the like. 



In my Catalogue I placed it imder Brachypteryx from its like- 

 ness to BZ.Sej)iaria of Horsficld, which, I see, is now considered 

 by some to be also an Aicljijje, though Blyth says it is interme- 

 diate to this and j\[alacopteron. Perhaps this has led Gray to 

 associate this genus with Brachypteryx in his Myotherincc. A 

 very closely allied species is A. nigrlfrons, Blyth, from Ceylon ; 

 and Bracliypt. idyro-capitata, Eyton, Is probably another. 



Though so similar In structure, I am by no means certain that . 

 these last-named species, viz., A. atricejys, nigrifrons, nigro-capitata, 

 and sepiaria, sliould not be classed apart from the more dingy- 

 colored species first noticed. The habits of xl. atriceps, as observ- 

 ed by myself, are more those of Timulia, or, at all events, of 

 Durnetia and Fellorneum, than the more staid and quiet demeanour 

 of ^1. poioccphala and Nipalensis. 



Next to Alcippe, perhaps, should be placed the pre-eminently 

 ^lalayan group of the Quaker-thrushes, named MalctcDpteron by 



