268 TIMALIID®. 
Key to Species and Subspecies. 
A. Fore crown rufous to chestnut ; bill not red. 
a. Throat yellowish. [p- 268. 
a’. Rufous of crown extending to nape .. S.ruficeps ruficeps, 
b'. Rufous of crown confined to that 
PBEU Tso ese wm chore Meiers os Rat he ee ene S.r, bhamoensis, p. 269, 
6. Throat whitish. 
c’. Lores almost white: fore crown dull 
TULOUS sb see CM Pent = fae at eat ' Sir. rufifrons, p. 269. 
a’. Lores yellow; fore crown bright 
LULOUS= «7 eRe cs ots ... S27. ambigua, p. 270. 
B, Fore crown fulvyous; bill red ............ S. pyrrhops, p. 271. 
(277) Stachyridopsis ruficeps ruficeps. 
Tue Rep-HeaDED BABBLER. 
Stachyridopsis ruficeps Blyth, J. A. 8. B., xvi, p. 452 (1847) (Darjee- 
ling); Blanf. & Oates, 1. p. 164. 
Vernacular names. Syak-birang-pho (Lepcha). 
Description. Forehead, crown and nape bright chestnut, the 
forehead with obsolete dark shaft-stripes; lores bright yellow; 
upper plumage, tail and exposed parts of wings olive-brown, tinged 
rufous ; chin and upper throat pale yellow with conspicuous black 
shafts; sides of the head and neck and entire lower plumage 
fulvous yellow; the sides of the body, thighs, vent and under 
tail-coverts tinged with olivaceous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris golden-brown, red-brown or crimson ; 
bill bluish plumbeous, darker above, paler and rather fleshy below ; 
legs pale yellowish- or fleshy-brown. 
Measurements. Total length about 120 to 125 mm.; wing 54 
to 58 mm.; tail about 50 to 52 mm.; tarsus about 17 to 18 mm.; 
culmen about 10 mm. 
Distribution. Sikkim and hills North of the Brahmaputra. 
Khasia and N. Cachar Hills. Annam (Robinson & Kloss). It 
must also occur in the intervening countries in extreme N. Burma 
but so far has not been recorded thence. 
Nidification. This little Babbler breeds in Sikkim from 3,000 
feet upwards and in the Assam Hills from 2,500 feet, commencing 
in early April and continuing until the end of June. The nest is a 
small, rather neatly made egg-shaped structure with the entrance 
at the top, or small end; outwardly it is composed of dead bamboo 
leaves but inside is more or less mixed with roots and fibrous 
material and generally lined with fine roots. The site selected is 
either a mass of twigs low down in a bamboo clump or some thick 
bush; rarely it is placed actually on the ground. The eggs, four 
in number, have a pearly white ground with faint specks and small 
blotches, generally disposed as a ring round the larger end and 
sparse or absent elsewhere. A few eggs may be found which are 
pure white and equally seldom a clutch comparatively boldly 
marked. The shape is a short, broad, oval, the texture stout and 
glossy. Thirty eggs average about 15°8 x 12°4 mm. 
