212 TIMALIIDA. 
upper parts by a broad black band. Tail often nearly black at 
the end. 
Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in horsfieldr. 
Distribution. Practically the whole of S. India, South of the 
range of P. h. horsfieldi, wherever there are hills and mountains. 
Nidification. This bird breeds in great numbers in the Nilgiris 
and commonly in many other places between 2,000 and 8,000 feet. 
It makes the usual globular nest of grass, more or less mixed with 
leaves, bracken and roots, very flimsily put together and placed 
either on the ground or low down in some bush. Many authors 
deseribe the full clutch as four or five, but over the greater part 
of its range two or three is probably the normal number. They 
are, of course, the usual pure white, and ten eggs average about 
26°5x19°7 mm. They breed in December to March on the West 
Coast but during March, April and May in the Nilgiris and higher 
hills. 
Habits. A gregarious bird, going about in pane from half-a- 
dozen toa dozen or more, working through the low bushes, or on 
the ground under them, for insects. They employ a variety of 
soft, rather musical notes, bursting into a chorus of abuse and 
loud language when frightened or annoved. Their call-note is the 
usual hoot hoot of the family. 
(209) Pomatorhinus horsfieldi melanurus. 
Tur Cryton Scrmitar-BaBBLEr. 
Pomatcrhinus melanwus Blyth, J. A. 8. B., xvi, p. 481 (1847) 
(Ceylon) ; Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 118. 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Similar to horsfieldi horsfieldi but with no demar- 
cations between the plumage of the upper parts and the sides of 
the breast and neck, the latter being of the same ferruginous 
brown as the former; the tail is very dark marked with ‘ferru- 
ginous at the base. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris reddish brown to dull red; orbital 
skin and eyelid dull blue; bill pale to dark yellow, blackish 
on the base; legs and feet slaty or greenish plumbeous ; feet 
generally more bluish than tarsi, claws dusky-horny. 
Measurements. Length about 210 to 215 mm.; wing about 
86 to 94 mm.; tailabout 95 mm.; tarsus about 30 mm.; culmen 
about 25 to 26 mm. 
Distribution. Ceylon only. 
The description given above is for the individuals obtained in 
the South, where heat and humidity are at their greatest. Birds 
obtained on the Horton Plains and at the highest altitudes are 
more olive than rufous and paler, less rich, in coloration through- 
out. Ll cannot, however, on the material available define the 
habitat of either form, and therefore refrain from naming another: 
new race. 
