POMATORHINUS. PALL 
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown, maroon-brown or crimson; 
legs and feet greenish plumbeous ; bill yellow, dusky at. base of 
lower mandible. 
Measurements. Length about 250 to 260 mm.; wing about 
100 to 105 mm.; tail about 105 to 108 min.; tarsus about 32 mm. ; 
eulmen about 25 mm. 
Distribution. Bombay, Mahabaleshwar, Khandalla, Kanara and 
the plains of Mysore, Madras and the Deccan. 
Nidification. This Scimitar-Babbler breeds from January to 
May in broken country and low hills up to about 2,060 feet as 
well as in the actual plains, making the usual grass, domed nest, 
which it places on the ground in grass and bushes, or in forest. 
The eggs apparently sometimes number as many as five, but two 
or three are the normal clutch. Twenty-four eggs average 26°6 x 
18°3 mm. 
Habits. Those of the genus. This is a subspecies of the low 
country, it being represented by other races in the higher hills. 
(207) Pomatorhinus horsfieldi obscurus. 
Hume’s Scrmrrar-BaBpBsiLERr. 
Pomatorhinus obsenrus Hume, 8. F., i, p. 7 (1873) (Mt. Abu) ; Blanf. 
& Oates, 1, p. 120. 
Vernacular names. Namala Pitta or Dasari Pitta (Tel.). 
Description. A much paler bird than the last, with no black 
band separating the white of the breast from the upper plumage, 
the sides of the neck and breast being practically the same colour 
as the back. 
Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in true horsfieldi. 
Distribution. So far only recorded from Mt. Abu and Seoni. 
Nidification. Similar to that of the other races. Five eggs sent 
me from Mt, Abu measure about 23-0 x 17-5 min. 
Habits as in the last, but perhaps does not frequent such dense 
jungles. Its range of elevation still requires to be carefully 
worked out together with its full distribution. Butler says that 
it is not gregarious, but goes about either singly or in pairs. 
(208) Pomatorhinus horsfieldi travancoriensis. 
THe SoutHeRN InpIAN Scrurrar-BABBLER. 
Pomatorhinus horsfieldi_ travancoriensis Harington, J. B. N. H.S., 
299 
xxii, p. 335 (1914) (Travancore). 
Vernacular names. Namala pitta (Tel.). 
Description. Much darker than typical horsfieldi; back a rich 
-olive-brown, head decidedly darker than back and often blotched 
with black. White of breast and abdomen divided from brown of 
PQ 
