274 TIMALIID.^. 



is glossy and stout and the shape a broad oval. One hundred eggs 

 average 16'6 x 12'6 mm. 



Habits. The birds of this genus are typically plains' birds, seldom 

 ascending the hills to any height. They keep to bushes, lower 

 trees and bamboo when hunting for food, never resorting to the 

 ground for this purpose and almost equally seldom visiting the 

 higher trees. In their attitudes and manners they are more 

 thoroughly Timaliine and h-ss Tit-like than birds of the genera 

 Stachyris and Stavhyridopsis, for though they keep in good-sized 

 flocks they creep and clamber about in a quiet, unobtrusive 

 manner instead of fluttering or moving restlesslv from one twig to 

 another. They ai'e very partial to bam boo- jungle, whetlier witli 

 or without undergrowth and are also found in scrub and grass 

 and in deserted cultivation patches. Harington describes their 

 note as a monotonous "chuk" constantly repeated. 



(284) Mixornis rubricapilla minor. 



Gyldensxolpe's Babbler. 



Mirorms gukiris vnnor Gyldenstol'pe, Kuugl. Sv. Yet.-Akad. Haudl., 

 Ivi, 1916, p. 60 (Lat Bua Kao). 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Differs from the last bird in having the crown less 

 ferruginous, more brown; the stripes on the throat and breast 

 finer and fewer ; the up))er parts a less pure olive-green. 



Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in the last. 



Distribution. Siam and Eastern Central Burma. 



Nidification. Eggs obtained by Messrs. W. J. E. Williamson 

 and E. Gr. Herbert near Bangkok in May and June measure about 

 16'9 X 13"0 mm. The nest seems to be almost invariably placed in 

 Pine-iipple plants. 



Habits. This race seems to favour the haunts of mankind far 

 more than the other races do. It is not only to be found round 

 about villages and human habitation but actuallv enters gardens 

 and orchards and breeds there. 



(285) Mixornis rubricapilla pileata. 



The Malay Yellow-breasted Babbler. 



Prinia pileata Blyth, J. A. S. B., xi, 1842, p. 204 (Malay). 

 Mixornis gular is. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 168. 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. Differs from the last two in having tiie stripes on 

 the under parts much more developed ; the crown more rufous and 

 the upper parts also tinged with rufous and the ex|)osed parts 

 of the wing more castaneous. 



Colours of soft parts and Measurements. The hill uiay be a 

 trifle heavier and longer than in the last but the diflerence is quite 

 insigniflcant. Davison records the iris as brown, otherwise both 

 in size and colours of soft ^tivts pileata agrees with the other races. 



