TIMALIN.E. 25 



with rusty bro-\vn ; beneath, the chin, throat, neck, and part of the 

 breast, pure white ; the lower part of the neck with narrow black 

 streaks, the shafts of each feather being shining black and pro- 

 longed; abdomen and vent pale ferruginous, tinged with olivaceous 

 on the flanks, and the lower tail-coverts olive-brown. 



Bill black; legs fleshy brown; irides dusky red. Length 6| 

 inches ; wing 2| ; tail 2^-^ ; bill at front f ; tarsus nearly |. 



The Red-capped Babbler has been procured in Nepal, the Bengal 

 Sunderbuns, Assam, and Arrakan, extending through Burmah and 

 the Malayan peninsula to Java. It has thus the most extensive 

 geographical distribution of any of tliis family. I have seen it in 

 the grass jungles of Purneah, Eajmahal, Sylhet, and Cachar, as well 

 as in Upper Burmah, where it is much more abundant than in 

 Bengal, and less shy, affecting hedge-rows near villages, instead 

 of the unfrequented grass jungles and thickets in which alone it 

 is seen in Bengal. Horsfield says that it is common (in Java) in 

 groves and woods; approaches villages, constructs its nest in 

 hedges, and is one of the social birds whicli delight to dwell in the 

 neighbourhood of cultivation. It has, he says, a pleasant note, 

 which consists of a slow repetition of the five tones of the diatonic 

 scale (G. D. E. F. G.), with perfect regularity, and at small intervals 

 of time. 



There are many other species of Timalia in IMalayana, viz., T. 

 nigricollis, T. — T. erythroptera, Bl. — T. maculata, T. Cpectoralis, 

 Bl.), from Malacca ; and others from the islands. 



Gen. DuMETiA, Blyth. 



Syn. Thvalia, apud Franklin. 



Char. — Bill moderate, or rather short, compressed, pointed; 

 culmen slightly curving from the base, and the commissure also 

 slightly curved ; a few small rictal bristles ; wings short, rounded, 

 4th, 5th, and 6th quills nearly equal; tail moderate, rounded; tarsus 

 stout ; middle toe not elongate ; lateral toes about equal, hind toe 

 and claw moderately large. 



This genus, instituted by Mr. Blyth for two small species 

 confined to continental India, is barely separable from Pellorneum, 

 with which at one time Mr. Blyth classed them ; but it differs 



D 



