214 TIMALIID ©. 
Nidification. Breeds in Sikkim from the end of April to the end 
of June, making a globular nest of grass and bamboo leaves, some- 
times lined with finer grass, but generally unlined. The nest is 
placed either on, or quite close to, the ground, generally in dense 
undergrowth, less often in bamboo or thinner jungle. The eggs, 
either three or four in number, according to Hodgson sometimes 
five, are the usual pure white, and twenty eggs average about 
23°5 x 17°7 mm. 
Habits. This bird is generaliy found at considerable heights 
from 4,000 feet up to at least 6,000 feet, seldom breeding below 
the former. Its habits differ in no way from those of the better 
known phayrei. 
(211) Pomatorhinus ferruginosus phayrei. 
PHAYRE’S CORAL-BILLED SCIMITAR-BABBLER. 
Pomatorhinus phayret Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvi, p. 462 (1847) (Arrakan);: 
Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 121. 
Vernacular names. Dao-buku-gajao(Cachari); Zniui-gojo(Kacha 
Naga). 
Description. Similar to the last, but the upper plumage olive- 
brown with no rufous tinge; above the white supercilium there is 
a trace of a black line; the under parts are much more rufous. 
The crown is practically concolorous with the back. 
Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in ferruginosus. 
Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra, Chin Hills and 
Arrakan Yomas. 
Nidification. Breeds in considerable numbers in the Khasia 
and N. Cachar Hills between 3,000 and 5,000 feet, most commonly 
at 3,000 to 3,500 feet. The nest is the usual football-shaped affair, 
lying on its side, very loosely and untidily made, principally of 
bamboo leaves and bracken, more or less mixed with grass, roots 
and a few leaves. In most nests there is no true lining but, in 
a tew, fine grass is used for this purpose. The entrance, which 
may be anything up to 4” wide, is at one end low down and the 
ends of the materials stick out all round, half biding it from sight. 
The nest is sometimes placed on the ground, but far more often 
in bushes some feet above it, and I have taken one nest which lay 
on the top of a bush about 7 feet up, easily visible from the hill- 
path above but looking like a mass of rubbish blown together by the 
wind against a jutting branch. Three is the number of eggs most 
often laid, sometimes four, frequently two only. Fifty eggs 
average 27-1 19:1 mm. The breeding season lasts from May to 
July but I have seen nests with eggs both in April and late August. 
Habits. Phayre’s Scimitar-Babbler is a bird of thick forest and 
dense undergrowth, found but little in bamboo-jungle and still less 
in the grass-covered hills, except in the mornings and evenings 
