140 TIMALIID^. 



very tame and confiding. They keep generally below !i,000 feet 

 and are most common in the low foot-hills and adjoining plains, 

 ■but they are also found up to 4,000 feet. 



(121) Dryonastes nuchalis. 



Ogle's Laughing-Thrush. 



Garndax 7mchiilis Godw.-Aust., A. M. N. H., (4) xviii,p. 411 (1876) 



(Dibrugarh, Assam). 

 Dryonastes nuchalis. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 74. 



Vernacular names. FaJc-chi-loka (Trans-Dikku Nagas). 



Description. Forehead, upper portion of cheeks and round the 

 eye black ; crown and nape slate-grey ; a few pomted white 

 feathers in front of the crown ; hind neck and upper back 

 chestiiut ; remaining upper plumage olive-brown, the outer webs 

 of the quills tinged with paler grey and tips of tail-feathers broadly 

 black; lower parts of cheeks, ear-coverts and sides of neck white; 

 chin and throat black ; breast light ashy ; remainder of lower 

 plumage ohve-brovvii. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris blood-red to brick-red ; bill black ; 

 legs and feet pale tleshy or fleshy-grey, toes the same or a shade 

 darker. 



Measurements. Total length about 135 mm.; wing 106 to 

 112 mm. ; tail about 110 mm. ; culmen about 25 mm. 



Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra from Naogang 

 to the extreme east of Lakhimpur from the foot-hills up to some 

 3,000 feet. This Laughing-Tiirush probably does not occur in 

 Manipur, certainly not in the Cachar Hills adjoining. 



Nidification. Ogle's Laughing-Thrush has so far only been 

 found breeding by Dr. Coltart and later by myself round about 

 Margherita in the extreme east of the Assam Vallev. It is a com- 

 mon bird in the higher foot-hills from about 500 feet up to about 

 3,000 feet during the breeding season, which is from April to 

 June. The nest is like that of the Eufous-necked Laughing- 

 Thrush but bigger and more massive. It is generally placed in 

 scrub-jungle in ravines or broken country. The eggs number two 

 or three and are a rather darker blue than the eggs of the last 

 bird and not so glossy as a rule, thougli one set ot" pui'e white 

 eggs taken by Dr. Coltart are very highly glossed. Forty eggs 

 iiverage about 28-5 x 20*7 mm. 



Habits. At present there is nothing recorded about this bird, 

 but from what Me saw of it at Margherita it differs little from 

 the rest of the genus. Perhaps not quite so noisy as rajtrollis, il 

 indulges in much the same games of follow- my-leader through 

 scrub- and bamboo-jungle, each bird every now and then clambering 

 up to the top of a bush and shouting loudly to the others, who 

 in turn emulate both his climbing feats and his cackling laugh, 



