144 TIMALIID®. 
Habits. This Laughing-Thrush is found between 5,000 and 
7,000 feet in the Bhamo Hills; it is said to have a ‘very fine, 
almost human whistle which can easily be imitated and by which 
it can be called up. It generally keeps to very dense forest.” 
(126) Dryonastes sannio. 
Tue Wurrn-BRowED LiavGHine-THRUSH. 
Garrulax sannio Swinh., Ibis, 1867, p. 403 (China). 
Dryonastes sannio. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 76. 
Vernacular names. Shong-shay, Wo-frow (Kachin). 
Description. Lores, cheeks, lower part of the ear-coverts and a 
supercilium to the nape yellowish white; remainder of head, neck, 
chin and throat chestnut-brown ; upper plumage and exposed parts 
of wings olive-brown; tail rufous-brown ; centre of breast and 
abdomen pale ochraceous; sides of same rufous olive-brown ; 
under tail-coverts bright ochraceous. 
Colours of soft parts. Legs and feet pale brown with a faint 
purplish-fleshy tinge; claws darker; bill blackish; orbital skin 
pale fleshy-grey ; iris dull brownish maroon, liver-brown, or light 
brown (Hume). 
Measurements. Length about 250 to 260 mm.; wing 95 to 99 
mm.; tail about 100 to 105 mm.; tarsus about 35 mm.; culmen 
about 18 to 19 mm. 
Distribution. The extreme east of Cachar Hills, Manipur, Chin 
and Kachin Hills, Shan States into 8.W. China, Fohkien (La 
Touche). 
Nidification. The breeding season commences in February, but 
most eggs are laid in April and May and from then onwards to 
the middle of June. The nest is like that of rajicollis but with 
more grass in its construction, and is generally placed low down 
in brambles, bushes or thick grass, but in the Shan States it 
appears to select small trees and saplings for nesting purposes. 
The eggs vary from two to four in number and in colour from 
pure white to pale blue. They have the extremely hard, glossy 
texture of the eggs of the Rufous-necked Laughing-Thrush, 
from which they cannot be distinguished. 
26:0 x 19°6 mm. 
Habits. A very rare bird in Cachar and Manipur, this Laughing- 
Thrush becomes extremely common in the Kachin and Chin Hills 
between 3,000 and 5,500 feet. In its habits it is the same noisy, 
gregarious bird as is rujicollis, and, though a skulker in low jungle, 
is not shy or intolerant of observation. According to Harington 
they collect together in the evenings and are then often very 
noisy, but their notes are more complaining and less hilarious than 
those of the White-crested Laughing-Thrushes. 
Eighty eggs average 
