186 TIMALIIDA. 
Genus STACTOCICHLA Sharpe, 1883. 
This genus contains a single species, a brown bird with a spotted. 
breast extremely Thrush-like in appearance. The bill is long and 
slender, the tail and wing about equal in length, the latter short 
and rounded as usual. A new form of this species has recently 
been described from Annam *. 
(179) Stactocichla merulina merulina. 
Tur SporreD-BREASTED LAauGHING-THRUSH. 
Garrulax merulinus Blyth, J. A. S.B., xx, p. 521 (1851) (Manipur). 
Stactocichla merulina. Blanford & Oates, i, p. 104. 
Vernacular names. Moh mepeh (Angami Naga). 
Description. A narrow white streak above the ear-coverts ; 
forehead mottled with grey; remainder of upper plumage, exposed 
parts of wings and tail rutescent olive-brown ; chin, throat and 
breast yellowish buff, broadly streaked with oval black stripes ; 
centre of abdomen the same colour unstriped; flanks rufescent 
olive-brown ; under tail-coverts bright ochraceous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale yellowish or pinkish, brown in 
young birds ; legs and feet pale to dark brown, the soles paler and 
claws darker; bill dark horny-brown, black at tip and on culmen, 
greyish on lower mandible. 
Measurements. Length about 260 to 270 mm.; wing 93 to 
99 mm.; tail about 96 mm.; tarsus about 40 mm. ; culmen about 
24 mm. 
Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra South to Manipur 
and Lushai, East to Lakhimpur. 
Nidification. Breeds above 3,500 feet from April to July, but 
principally in the end of June, both in bamboo-jungle and in 
forest. In the former the nest is made almost entirely of bamboo 
leaves, mixed with grass, moss, roots, etc., and lined with roots ; 
when placed in forest the major part of the materials is moss 
mixed with dead leaves, roots, tendrils, ete., and lined with moss 
and fern roots. In shape a hemispherical cup, it is generally 
placed close to the ground either in a bamboo clump or a dense 
bush, more seldom in a high bush or small sapling. 
The eggs, two or three in number, are large replicas of those of 
Trochalopterum virgatum, a shade darker, perhaps, but of the same 
shapeand texture. 50 eggs average 28°7 x 21-7 min. 
Habits. Although so aberrant in appearance, this is a true 
Laughing-Thrush in its habits; very gregarious, it is found in 
flocks of ten to twenty individuals; very noisy, it possesses a wide 
range of very beautiful notes as well as many others less pleasing ; 
a terrible skulker, it is one of the hardest birds to watch or procure. 
* Robinson & Kloss, Ibis, 1919, p. 577 (S. Annam). 
