62 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



to act as foster parent to her own progeny, and she lays a greenish 

 blue egg. They are readily caught by a spring trap baited with grain, 

 with one of their kind put in the centre as a lure. The Shikra or 

 Chipka (Micronisus badius) is sometimes flown at them, and causes 

 a general consternation. After the first burst of alarm and gabbling, 

 they cease their chattering, separate, and disperse, and do not, like 

 the bolder Mahratta Babbler {M. Malcohni), come to the rescue 

 of their unfortunate companion. 



The variety or race I named M. affi,yiis is so very similar that 

 I shall not separate it. It appeared to me to differ slightly in the 

 white of the head being less pure, and the band on the throat 

 less dark. The hind toe and claw also appeared larger, and the 

 bill shorter. My specimens were procured in Travancore. 



434. Malacocircus Malabar icus, Jerdon, 



111. Ind. Orn., text to M. griseus, pi. 19 — Blyth, Cat. 791-— 

 M. Somervillei, apud Jerdon, Cat. 91 — and Horsf., Cat. 317 (in 

 part) — M. orientalis, Jerdon — Jangli-hhyr H. — Pedda sida, Tel. 



The Jungle Babbler. 



Descr. — Very like M. terricolor, but somewhat darker in color, 

 with broader and more distinct pale mesial streaks on the feathers 

 of the back, and especially of the breast ; the tertiaries are but 

 very obscurely striated, but the tail is distinctly so. 



Bill and gape dark yellow ; orbits yellow ; irides pale yellow ; 

 legs dirty yellow, with a fleshy tinge. Length 9 inches ; wing 4 ^jj ', 

 tail 4^ ; tarsus 1 j% ; bill at front |. 



The Jungle Babbler is found in forests and iunojles throuiihout 

 the greater part of the Peninsula of India, in the Carnatic, the 

 N. Circars, the Malabar Coast, the slopes of the Neilgherries, and 

 the table land, in suitable places, as far as Nagpore, and to the 

 latitude of Bombay on the Western Ghats. It is replaced in the 

 Is orth by il/. terricoloi' andil/. ilia/coZmi respectively in the east and 

 west. Royle, in his List of Birds procured in the N. W. P., gives 

 M. Somervillei as found in the Dhoon, but this appears doubtful. 

 Horsfield gives my Malaharicus as synonymous with Sykea' 

 Somervillei, but I procured another species in Bombay and vicinity 



