278 TIMALIID^. 



Nidification. Tlie Jsilgiri Qiiaker-B:ibbler is said to breed from 

 January to June, generally in May and June, in the billy country 

 from the lowest foot-hills upwards. The nest is a cup of leaves, 

 grass and a little moss or lichen and lined with black roots. It 

 is usually placed in a bush, 2 to 8 feet from the ground, 

 standing in either dense forest or in scrub-jungle. The eggs 

 are nearly always two only in number and vary in colour very 

 greatly but the majority are of the clouded ])iiik ty])e described 

 as one of the types of the Nepal Babbler. Thirty-eight eggs 

 average !20*0 x 15'1 mm. 



Habits. This Babbler is found from the level of the plains in 

 broken country up to some 6,0U0 feet. In habits it appears to 

 agree well with A. p. jyliayi'ei described further on. 



(289) Alcippe poioicephala brucei. 



The Bombay Quaker-Babbler. 



Alcippe hnicei 'H.wm.Q, J. A. 8. B., xxxix, p. 122 (1870) (Mahaba- 

 leshwar). 



Vernacular names. Chit Karuvi (Tel.). 



Descriptiou. A larger and much greyer bird than the last ; the 

 head and neck paler than in that bird and grading into, not con- 

 trasting with, the colour of the back ; there is no rufous tinge on 

 the rump and uppertail-coverts and the quills and tail-feiithers are 

 light brov\ii rather than chestnut. 



Colours of soft parts as in the last. 



Measurements. Wing 72 to 75 mm.: bill 14 to 15 mm. 



Distribution. '• Mahbaleshwar, Western Gh;its from Eajkot in 

 Khathiavvjir to Belgaum ; the Central Provinces ; Pachmarhi and 

 the Paresnath Hill, Lower Bengal"' {Ilarington). 



Nidification as in the last. Nearly all the eggs I have seen of this 

 race have the ground-colour pale salmon, \^■hilst the markings 

 consist of smears and blotches of light red and reddish brown, often 

 covering the greater part of the surface of the whole egg. Ten 

 eggs measure about 19-1 x 14*6 mm. 



Habits do not differ from those of the Nilgiri and the Arrakan 

 Quaker-Babblers. 



(290) Alcippe poioicephala phayrei. 



The Arrakan Quaker-Babbler. 



AIcip2)e phm/rei BIyth, J. A. S. B., xiv, p. 001 (1845) (Arrakan ; 

 Blauf. & Gates, i, p. 158. 



Vernacular names. Dao-2)ere-gadeha (Cachari). 



Description. The head and neck in this form are brownish grey 

 gradually changing into the olive-brown of the back; the chin and 

 throat are greyish nnd the rest of the under parts are rufescent 



