68 BIRDS OF JNDIA. 



grounds, entering gardens and compounds, and sheltering itself 

 in hedge-rows. In the south it is a shy bird, flying before you 

 from bush to bush with a sibilant sort of whistle, or, as Mr. Philij^ps 

 says "a low under-toned warbling whistle," which it often repeats. 

 It runs or rather hops along the ground at a great rate, and with 

 its long tail held straight out and drooping on the ground, it looks 

 more like a rat than a bird. This likeness is so striking, that it has 

 occurred to more than one observer. It flies low, from bush to 

 bush, with a few rapid beats of the wing alternating with a sailing 

 motion, and outstretched wings ; and though, from the nature of 

 the ground it frequents, it is obliged to take longer flights than the 

 Malacocerci, yet its ppwers of wing are very feeble, and a person 

 on horseback can easily overtake the flock. In such case they 

 take refuge in the nearest bush, and are with great difficulty dis- 

 lodged. I have frequently seen the nest and eggs, the former 

 almost always in a thorny bush, at no height, made of roots and 

 grasses loosely put together, and with three or four verditer blue 

 eggs. 



IMr. Philipps says that " they bear confinement Avell, feeding on 

 grain, and that all day long they are jumping from side to side of 

 the aviary, responding to each other." 



439. ChatarrhceaEarlei, Blyth. 



Malacocircus, apud Blyth, J. A. S., XIII. , 369 — Blyth. Cat. 

 796 — HoRSF. Cat. 321 — Burra-phenga, Hindi. 



The Striated Eeed-babbler. 



Descr. — Above pale ashy brown, with dark brown streaks on 

 the head and back, fading on the upper tail-coverts ; tail con- 

 colorous with the back, still paler perhaps, and with no trace of 

 stria2; chin, throat, and upper part of the breast dull reddish 

 fulvous, edged paler, and with faint dark central lines ; the rest 

 of the under-parts dingy fulvous or albescent brown. 



Bill pale greenish yellow, dusky above and at the tip ; legs 

 dirty greenish horn ; irides bright yellow. Length not quite 10 

 inches; extent 11 ; wing 3^ ; tail 5| ; bill at front f ; tarsus 1§ ; 

 extent of foot H. 



