TIMALIN.E. 59 



432. Malacocircus terricolor, Hodgson. 



Pastor, apud Hodgson, J. A. S., V., 771 — M. Bengalensis, 

 Blytii, Cat. 790 — M. canorus, L., apud Horsf., Cat, 318 — 

 Saf hluii, II. i. e., the seven bi'otliers — CJiatarlda, Beng. — Pengya 

 maina, H., in the Upper Provinces. 



The Bengal Babbler. 



Descr. — Above brownish ashy, paler and somewhat cinereous 

 on the head and neck ; browner on the back, where the feathers 

 are faintly pale shafted ; quills brown, with outer webs paler, and 

 narrowly bordered with ashy ; tail reddisli brown, faintly barred, 

 and the outer feathers tipped with pale whitey brown ; beneath 

 pale ashy brown on the throat and breast, the feathers very faintly 

 edged and shafted lighter ; abdomen, vent, and under-tail-coverts, 

 pale fulvescent. 



Bill horny brown ; irides pale yellow ; legs dingy or fleshy 

 yellow. Length 9 to 10 inches ; extent 13; wing A^ ; tail 4i ; bill 

 at front | ; tarsus 1^. 



This species very closely resembles 31. striatus of Ceylon, 

 excepting that all its colors are less brought out, the cross rays 

 on the tail being faint and inconspicuous, barely discernible on 

 the tertiaries, and not at all on the secondaries ; it has a very 

 weak tinge of fulvous on the abdominal region, whilst the Ceylon 

 bird is deeper ferruginous. The closed wiug of striatus shows 

 more ashy, the bill too is a trifle longer, and more gradually curved. 



The Bengal Babbler is found throughout all Bengal proper, 

 extending south to Goomsoor, and perhaps further westward, 

 through the Terai of Nepal to the Dehra Doon ; and as far as 

 the Nerbudda at all events in Central India. "It is," says Pearson, 

 " a most abundant and conspicuous species in Bengal and Nepal. 

 It is the Sat bhai, or seven brothers, of the natives, so called 

 from being always found in a company of about that number. 

 It is one of the chattering, noisiest birds in India, squeaking and 

 hopping about, now on the ground then upon a tree, the flock 

 being constantly on the move ; when one starts, all the rest fol- 

 low^ it, one after the other, making generally but a short flight of 

 not more than forty or fifty yards at a time, and when alighted 



