288 TIMALIID^. 



blades of grass but with these are mixed a certain amount of dt^d 

 leaves, fern- and hracken-fronds and weeds ; tendrils and roots are 

 used to bind the materials together. The liniiio; is of roots or 

 bamboo leaves and sometimes a little moss is used inside and 

 outside the nest. The sites selected may be either in bamboo 

 and scrub or in deep forest. The e<j;gs number two, three or four 

 and have the ground-colour anything from pure white to pale 

 sienna and the markings consist of tiny specks of dark sienna- 

 brown, often forming a ring or cap but profusely scattered else- 

 where also. A few eggs with white ground have the specks still 

 darker and finer. The shape is generally a short oval ; pyriforra 

 eggs not being rare. They are very fragile and have no gloss. 

 Sixty eggs average 18'3 x 14-3 mm. 



Habits. This is a still more cheerful, lively little bird than 

 tliose of the genus Sclimniparus and when fluttering about a bush 

 on which insects are plentiful remind one of Warblers of the 

 genus PhyVoscopvs. They do not, I think, ever feed on the 

 ground nor on the other hand do they ascend any height into 

 trees but I have seen them in grass and scrub occasionally and 

 in bamboos often ; when in deep forest, which they most affect, 

 they prefer places where there are glades or breaks such as are 

 made by streams, jungle-tracks etc. rather than tlie denser, 

 darker portions. They keep up a soft twittering the whole time 

 they are feeding. 



(802) Pseudominla castaneiceps castaneiceps. 



The Chestnut-headed Babbler. 



Mi7ila castaneiceps Hodgs., Ind. Rev., 1838, p. 88 (Nepal). 

 Sittiparus castaneiceps. Blauf. & Oates, i, p. 172. 



Vernacular names. Xone recorded. 



Description. Forehead, crown and nape chestnut-brow'n, the 

 feathers of the forehead with broad white streaks, those of the 

 crowji and nape with pale rufous streaks ; a broad line through 

 the eye and a narrow moustachial streak black ; remainder of 

 sides of head white; back, scapulars, rump and smaller Ming- 

 coverts olive-green tinged with fulvous ; greater wing-coverts and 

 primary-coverts black; winglet black on the outer webs, white on 

 the inner ; quills olive-green, the earlier primaries edged with 

 lioary-grey, the latter and the secondaries edged with chestnut at 

 the base ; innermost secondaries broadly edged with olive-green 

 on both webs ; below from chin to under tail-coverts pale fulvous- 

 white, the sides of breast and body ochraceous ; under wing- 

 coverts white. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-bro\An to crimson; bill, above 

 dark horny, the lower mandible dull fleshy, sometimes yellowish, 

 especially at base ; legs and feet dingy greenish yellow or yellowish- 

 horn. 



