PELLORNEUM, 237 
seen, for though they will sit on the nest until an elephant or 
buifalo almost touches them, they slink away amongst the grass 
long before a man on foot can get near them. ! obtained nests 
in the months of April and July, but presume they are principally 
“ Rains” breeders: when their food—grasshoppers—are most 
numerous. The few eggs I have seen are very beautiful, having 
a pale or bright pink ground-colour, with handsome blotches and 
smears of reddish brown. or light. red. with secondary markings 
of neutral tint. Fourteen eggs average about 18:1 x 14°6 mm. 
Habits. his little Babbler seems to be found only in the 
plains or in the rolling stretches of “sun-grass” lands on the 
foot-hills of the Himalayas. It is found always in pairs and 
always in grass of some kind though this may be anything from 
two to twenty feet high. It hasa sweet little song of some dozen 
notes or so which it sings from the highest piece of grass near its 
nest. 
(239) Pyctorhis altirostris scindicus. 
THe Sinp BaBBLer. 
Pyctorhis altirostris scindicus Harington, Jour. B.N.H.S., xxiii, 
p. 424 (1918) (Sukkur im Scind). 
Vernacular names. Mullala (Sind). 
Description. Differs from Jerdon’s Babbler in having the upper 
plumage fulvous, chin and throat white, breast and remainder of 
lower plumage ochraceous. 
Colours of soft parts as in P. a. altirostris. 
Measurements. Wing 65 mm.; culmen 12 mm. 
Distribution. Sind only. 
Nidification and Habits. Nothing recorded. 
Genus PELLORNEUM Swainson, 1831. 
In this genus I include Harington’s three genera—Pellornewm, 
Scotocichla and Drymocataphus, the last and first only of which 
Oates recognized in the Avifauna. These genera have generally 
been divided on account of the alleged difference in the compara- 
tive length of wing and tail, but a glance at the measurements of 
the various species suffices to show that this does not form a 
sufficient ground for their separation. Thus Pellornewm palustre 
has always been accepted as a typical Pellorneum, yet this is the 
only species or race in the three genera in which the tail exceeds 
tne wing in length. In all the other species the tail is always 
shorter than the wing, and the three genera only differ in this 
respect in degree. 
In Pellorneum, as now accepted, the tail is shorter than the wing, 
with the one exception of P. palustre, but is equal to or longer 
than twice the length of the tarsus; the bill is about equal to, or 
