142 TIMALIID7E. 



tinged with ashy ; tail chestnut-brown ; lower parts of clieeks 

 rufous-brown ; extreme point of chin black ; remainder of chin, 

 throat, the middle of the breast and abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 white; sides of breast and abdomen asliy. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red or red-brown ; bill horn_v-b]ack, 

 paler and greyer at the base ; legs pale fleshy. " Orbital skin 

 livid '' (Jerdon). 



Measurements. Length about 280 mm.; wing 103 to 108 mm. ; 

 tail about 120 mm.; tarsus about 35 mm. ; culmen about 20 mm. 



Distribution. Nepal, Sikkim, hills North of the Brahmaputra 

 and hill-ranges of North Manipur, Naga Hills to Dibrugarh. 



Fig. 27. — Head o!' I), c. ccerulahts. 



Nidification. Breeds in Sikkim in May and June and occasion- 

 ally as early as April at between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, making a 

 bulkv, cup-shaped nest of twigs, bamboo leaves, grass, roots and 

 stems of plants, lined with finer roots and fern-rachides and placed 

 in small trees or high bushes at any height between 5 and 15 feet. 

 The eggs, two or three in number, ai-e pale blue-green, very like 

 those of Garrulax moniliger, but the texture is smoother and closer 

 though not nearlv so hard or glossy as those of the r?(y?t'o/?/s group. 

 Fifteen eggs average 30-5 x 22-1 mm. 



Habits. Similar to those of the rest of the genus. This bird, 

 however, is one of high altitudes, being found principally between 

 -3,000 and 5,000 feet, and ascending up to 6,000 feet in summer 

 and descendino; to about 2,000 in winter. 



(124) Dryonastes cserulatus subcaerulatus. 



The Shillong Laughing-Thrush. 



Garrulax suhccerulatus Hume, S. F., vii, p. 140 (1878) (Shillong). 

 Dnioitastes suhccerulatus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 76. 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Similar to the last, but has the ear-coverts and 

 cheeks above and below them white, just tipped here and there 

 with black ; the three outermost pairs of tail-feathers are broadly 

 -tipped with white and the upper parts are rather paler. 



