ARGTA. 197 



h. Chin and throat immaculate wliite or 

 pale fulvous. 

 a' . Lower plumage pale fulvous. [p. 198. 



a". Above reddish brown A. caudata caudata, 



b". Above more grey-brown A. c. huttoni, p. 199. 



h'. Lower plumage ferruginous A. gidaris, p. 199. 



B. Head not streaked, l)ack with oval brown 



spots A. maleolmi, p. 200. 



"C. ]So streaks or spots on head or upper 

 plumage. 



c. Chin and throat rufous, lores dark .... A. subrufa,^. 201. 



d. Chin, upper throat and lores white. ... A. louf/irosfn's, p. 202. 



(191) Argya earlii. 



The Striated Babbler. 



Malanocerctis earlii Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvii, p. 369 (1844) (Calcutta), 

 Arc/i/a earlii. Bhinf. & Oates, i,p. 105. 



Vernacular names. Barra-plumja (Hindi). 



Description. Upper plumage brown tioged with rufous, tlie 

 feathers of the crown largely centred with very dark brown, those 



Fig. 32.— Head of A. earlii. 



of tbe back with very dark sbaft-stripes ; upper tail-coverts obso- 

 letely dark-shat'ted; tail brown, tbe shafts darker and the feathers 

 cross-rayed ; wings brown, the lesser coverts dark-centred ; lores 

 gi'ey ; cheeks and ear-coverts plain rufescent ; chin, throat and 

 breast the same, the dark stripes increasing in size downwards ; 

 remainder of lower plumage pale buffy-brown, albescent in the 

 middle of tbe abdomen. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow ; eyelid plumbeous ; 

 bill fle.sby-yellow, the culmen, nostril and tip darker horn-colour; 

 mouth yellow ; legs plumbeous or fleshy-plumbeous, claws 

 pinkish. 



Measurements. Length about 140 mm.; wing 85 to 93 mm.; 

 tail about 120 to 130 mm. ; culmen about 20 mm. ; tarsus about 

 •32 mm. 



Distribution. From Sind to tbe llun of Cutcb, along the base 

 of the Himalayas to Behar, all over Bebar and Bengal, East 

 through Assam, Xorth and South of the Brahmaputra, through 

 Chittagong, Chin Hills and Arrakan to Pegu. 



