254 TIMALIID^. 



its ways it is more Wren than Babbler. They haunt dense, 

 dark forest wherever there are openings for streams, pools or 

 natural small glades and they specially affect places strewn 

 with mossy boulders, fallen trees covered with ferns and orchids, 

 old stumps etc. and over these they dodge about and scramble 

 hither and thither just as does our little Wren at home. Some- 

 times, however, they hop more sedately about amongst the fallen 

 leaves, turning them over for the hidden insects, or they creep 

 through the bracken and scrub more in the manner of a genuine 

 Babbler, i'ly they will not, bur however hard pressed seek safety 

 on their legs, scuttling away into the undergrowth where they 

 speedily become non est. They are, so far as I know, always 

 found in pairs and not in flocks but, as I have seen them princi- 

 pally in the breeding season it may be that they collect in flocks 

 in tiie winter. Their cry is a rather shrill " chir-r-r " but they have 

 also a rather pleasant but low set of whistling notes. They are 

 t^xtraordinarily tame and, if quiet, one can watch them for a long 

 time without disturbing them. 



(250) Turdinulus roberti guttaticollis. 



Grant's Wren-Babbler. 



Tuvdinulus (juftaticoUis Ogilvie-Graiit, Ibis, 1895, p. 432 (Miri Hills, 

 Assam). 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Differs from Austen's AVren- Babbler in being 

 darker and browner above ; the rufous on the sides of the breast 

 and flanks is wanting and there is but little of this colour on the 

 cheeks. 



Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in the last race. 



Distribution. Hill-ranges of Eastern Assam North and South 

 oF the Brahmaputra. 



Nidification. Dr. H. N. Coltart and I found Grant's Wren- 

 Babbler breeding in some numbers in the hills and broken ground 

 round about Margherita. It nests from some few hundred feet, or 

 even in the plains {vide Stevens), up to 5,000 feet and is an early 

 breeder, most of Dr. Coltart's and my eggs being taken in March 

 and April. Nest and eggs cannot be distinguished from those of 

 T. r. roberti. The latter (40) average 19-3 x 14-8 mm. 



Habits. Except that this is a bird of lower levels the description 

 of the last bird's habits would suffice for this also. 



(260) Turdinulus epilepidotus davisoni. 



Davison's Wren-Babbler. 



Turdimihis davisoni O.-Grant, Bull. B. 0, C, xxv, p. 97 (1909) 

 (Thoungyah). 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Differs from either of the two preceding birds in 



