34 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



All the species of this group have a more or less Thrush-like 

 bill, short rounded wings, a long and broad, graduated or rounded 

 tail, and strong legs and feet. As introductory to this division of 

 the Timalince, I extract some excellent general remarks by Hodgson, 

 when describing several new species : " They frequent deep and 

 dark forests and groves exclusively, feed chiefly on the ground, eat 

 insects, berries, and caterpillars, and are incapable of a sustained 

 flight. They are frequently met with on the roads and pathways 

 in the forests, attracted by the dung of cattle, for the grain, 

 larvae, and insects it affords them. On the whole they are more 

 insectivorous than frugivorous or graminivorous, yet they are more 

 capable of a graminivorous diet than the true Thrushes.* They 

 scrape the earth with their bill, and sometimes with their feet ; many 

 of them are caged and tamed with facility, and in Nepal are often 

 kept in walled gardens, when they are very useful, destroying 

 larvse and insects." 



To these remarks I can only add that they are almost exclusively 

 monticolous, one (or two perhaps) frequenting forests in the plains. 

 All are very social, and have loud voices, some harsh, others mellow 

 and pleasing ; a few lay white eggs, the majority blue. 

 Gen. Garrulax. 



Syn. Crateropiis, Swainson, apud Jerdon — lanthocincla (partly) 

 Gould. — Cinclosoma, Vigors and Hodgson. 



Char. — Bill rather long, moderately stout, nearly straight ; the 

 culmen gently curved towards the tip, which is slightly hooked and 

 notched ; nostrils advanced, more or less impended by nareal tufts ; 

 rictal bristles rather long ; wings moderate, 5th and 6th quills 

 longest ; tail long, much rounded ; legs and feet very strong ; lateral 

 toes nearly equal ; claws long. 



The birds composing this genus are of rather large size, with 

 longer bills than the next; the plumage plain, in masses, and with 

 fewer marks and variegations. In their habits they are the most 

 gregarious and noisy of their tribe. 



There are several sections, distinguished chiefly by the mode of 

 coloration. 



* I presume that Mr. Hodgson had here partly in view the Malacocirci, or 

 Babblers, which are much greater grain-eaters than the Laughing-thrushes. 



