236 TIMALIIDA. 
with black centres to the feathers ; sides of head and neck rufous- 
grey-brown; whole upper plumage reddish brown, darkest on the 
wings and tail; chin, throat and upper breast whitish ; remainder 
of lower plumage pale fulvous, 
Colours of soft parts. ‘“‘ Upper mandible pale horn-colour, lower 
pinkish flesh-colour ; iris hazel-brown ; eyelid and orbital skin 
greenish yellow ; legs and feet pinkish brown ” (Oates). 
Measurements. ‘Total length about 165 mm.; wing 57 to 
62 mm.; tail about 80 mm.; tarsus about 22 mm.; culmen about 
12 mm. 
Distribution. The plains of Lower Burma. 
Nidification. A nest and eggs sent to me as belonging to ie 
bird do not differ from those of the Yellow-eyed Babbler the 
eggs being of the boldly marked cream-coloured type. The five 
eges measure 17:0 x 14° 1 mm. 
Habits. ‘This Babbler seems to be confined to swampy, low- 
lying plains, covered with ekra or elephant-grass where it is very 
abundant. It is, however, such an inveterate skulker and flies so 
seldom that it is very hard to watch or to shoot unless high 
floods practically cover its hiding places. It lives in great part 
on grasshoppers, large and small, and its note is said to be quite 
different from that ae stnensis but has not been more minutely 
described. 
(238) Pyctorhis altirostris griseigularis. 
Hume’s Baperer. 
Pyctorhis griseigularis Hume, 8. F., v, p. 116 (1877) (Assam). 
Vernacular names. Z'iri-sorai (Assamese). 
Description. Differs from Jerdon’s Babbler in having the chin, 
throat and upper breast grey instead of white, and the tower 
breast, abdomen and flanks dull rufous instead of ‘pale fulvous. 
Colours of soft parts. ‘“‘ Bill pale horny, nearly white towards 
base of lower mandible; legs pale fleshy or orange-brown ; feet 
darker” (/Zume); iris brown or golden brown, eyelid and orbital 
skin yellowish green. 
Measurements. Wing 62 to 64 mm. 
Distribution. The sub-Himalayan plains from the Bhutan 
Duars to the extreme east of Assam; Cachar and Sylhet Plains. 
Nidification. I found this little Babbler very common and 
breeding in great numbers in the ekra and elephant-grass plains 
in N. Lakhimpur, where I took several nests. ‘hese are facsimiles 
of the neat, compact cups of the Yellow-eyed Babbler, but are 
less often shaped like inverted cones, having the bottom rounded 
off. The nests found were always spotted by the bird being seen 
to quit, otherwise in these vast seas of grass they would never be 
