TUBDINULUS. 253 



Colours of soft parts. Irides red ; bill dark brownish-horn, paKn- 

 beneath; leg.s and feet liesliy-brown {Venning). 



Measurements. A larger bird than either of the two other 

 races ; wing 05 to 74 mm., average 15 specimens 68 mm. 



Distribution. Southern Shan States, Burma and Yunnan. 



Nidification. Nothing recorded but I have in my collection 

 eggs of 11 Tnnlinnlus from the 8. Shan States which must be of 

 this race. They are exactly like those of T. h. sfriatus already 

 described and measixre 21"Gx 16-9 mm. 



Habits. Nothing recorded but Rippou obtained it in the Sul- 

 ween Valley between 2,800 and 3,000 feet, a lower elevation tiitin 

 this species usually haunts. 



(258) Turdinulus roberti roberti. 



Austen's Wren-Babblek. 



Pnoepyga roberti GodAV.-Aust. iV' A^'ald., Ibis, 1875, p. 252 (Cliaka, 

 Manipur). 



Vernacular names. Dao-mojo gashim,Dao-2niJli-kasJii/ia {Cciclydv\). 



Description. Above rich brown, more rufescent on upper 1 ail- 

 coverts ; the feathers of head, back and scapulars edged with 

 blackish and with pale greyish centres; lores grey; ear-coverts 

 brown with grey centres ; supercihum and patch under ear-coverts 

 rufous, the feathers of the latter with specks at the tips; chin and 

 throat white with black specks forming three distinct hues from 

 chiu to breast ; breast rather rufous-brown with broad white 

 centres ; flanks more rufous with still paler shaft-stripes ; centre 

 of abdomen almost white with faint rufous edgings ; under tail- 

 coverts the siime but darker; wing brown, the outer webs of the 

 quills suffused with dark rufous, gi-eater and median coverts and 

 secondaries with distinct white tips. 



Colours of soft parts. Irides red ; upper mandible dark pluu)- 

 beous, tip and lower mandible paler and tipped almost white; legs 

 fleshy-brown, claws paler. 



Measurements. Length about 100 mm.; wing 50 to 55 idim.; 

 tail about 18 luu). ; tarsus about 18 mm. ; culmeu 12 to 13 mm. 



Distribution. Cachar, Manipur, Naga Hills and Khasia Hills. 



Nidification. This little Wren-]3abbler breeds freely both in the 

 N. Cach;ir and Khasia Hills from 4,000 feet upwards from the end 

 of April to the end of June, making a nest an absolute miniature 

 in every way of that of the Short-tailed Babbler^ It also places 

 it in precisely the same sort of position and in the same forests. 



The eggs number three or four, more often the former, and are 

 like those of 2\ h. brevicaudatus but suialler, not so glossy a white 

 and with more numerous but stiialler specks and spots. Forty eggs 

 average 19'3 x 14*8 mm. 



Habits. "Wren-Babbler" describes this biid exacilv and in all 



