176 TIMALIID®. 
Trochalopterum cachinnans. 
Key to Subspecies. 
A. Lores, chin and a line through the eye 
black 2 31\- deca absentee ee cine . T.c. cachinnans, p. 176. 
B. Lores rusty brown; chin dark brown ; 
no, dime throus breve see 6 66 wpe eye T. c. cinnamomeum, p. 177. 
(165) Trockalopterum cachinnans cachinnans. 
Tur Ninrerrr Lavenre-Taruse. 
Crateropus cachinnans Jerd., Madr. Jour. x, p. 255, pl. 7 (1889) 
(Nilgiris). 
Trochalopterum cachinnans. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 97. 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Point of forehead black; sides of the forehead 
and broad supercilium white; crown and nape slaty-brown, the 
feathers very narrowly margined with black; the lateral feathers 
of the forehead and crown black on their inner, white on the 
outer, webs, forming a black line above the supercilium ; lores, 
chin and a streak behind the eye black; feathers of the eyelid 
white; ear-coverts pale rufous ; sides of the nape ashy at the end 
of the supercilia, this colour suffusing the whole of the nape ; 
upper plumage, sides of neek, wings and tail olive-brown; throat 
and breast bright rufous; abdomen a duller rutous; thighs, vent, 
under tail-coverts and sides of the body rufescent olive-brown ; 
under wing-coverts rufous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to crimson; legs, feet 
and bill black. 
Measurements. Length about 225 to 235mm.: wing 92 to 
96 mmm.; tail about 100 mm.; tarsus 30 to 32mm.; culinen about 
16 to 18 mm. 
Distribution. Nilgiris, from 4,500 feet upwards. 
Nidification. Breeds from February to the end of June 
throughout its range. The nest is made of grass, leaves, moss, 
small twigs and other miscellaneous bits, and is lined with roots 
and fibre and frequently with fur, cotton-wool or feathers. In 
shape it is a very deep cup, rather bulky but compact, and it is 
placed in an upright fork of some bush or small tree in forest. 
The eggs are nearly always two in number, sometimes three but 
never more. In ground-colour they are a pale, rather washed- 
out blue and are speckled and blotched with reddish or pinkish 
brown, a few eggs having also one or two darker spots or hair- 
lines. They average about 25°0 x 18°8 mm. 
Habits. This Laughing-Thrush is extremely common all over 
the Nilgiris above 4,000 feet wherever there is sufficient cover. 
It is always found in parties, sometimes consisting of a dozen or 
more birds, and is one of the noisiest of the family, though its 
