276 TIMALIUID. 
tending down the neck to the back ; ear-coverts grey ; back olive- 
brown ; exposed portions of the wings and tail yellowish brown ; 
chin whitish ; under parts pale fulvous, washed with olivaceous on 
the flanks and thighs. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris light to deep hazel-brown; bill 
plumbeous or livid brown, black on the culmen and base of the 
upper mandible, lower paler; legs and feet pale fleshy or livid 
white. 
Measurements. Total lengthabout 125mm.; wing 56to60 mm. ; 
tail about 60 mm.; tarsus ahaa 20 mm.; culmen 10-5 toll‘5 mm. 
Distribution. The lower hills of Nepal, Sikkim, Assam both 
North and South of the Brahmaputra, Manipur, hills of Eastern 
Bengal, Chin Hills and Arrakan. 
Nidification. This little bird breeds principally between 1,500 
and 3,000 feet, making a small cup-shaped nest of grass and 
bamboo leaves lined with finer grasses. In some cases a little 
other material may be mixed with the rest, such as dead leaves, a 
little dry moss, or chips of bracken frond. It is placed either 
Fig. 52.--Head of A. 2. nepalensis. 
in a bush some 12 inches to 4 feet from the ground or in a bamboo 
clump. The eggs number two to four and vary in the most extra- 
ordinary manner. The following are common types:—(1) Pure 
white with sparse but bold dots and specks of deep purple; (2) 
white with innumerable specks of lilac-red ; (3) white to pale pink 
with blotches and small spots of light red; (4) pale to salmon- 
pink with clouds and smears all over of reddish ; (5) pure white 
with a ring or cap of deep purple lines and hieroglyphics. The 
first three are the most common. ‘Two hundred eggs average 
18:4 x 14:0 mm. 
The breeding season lasts from April to July, May being the 
month when most birds lay. 
Habits. The Nepal Babbler may be found at all heights from 
afew hundred feet up to 4,000 feet but its favourite elevations are 
about half-way between the two. It gathers into small flocks in 
the winter, sometimes however keeping in pairs, and it hunts all 
kinds of cover, thick and thin, forest or bamboo, keeping to the 
bushes and lower trees and showing a most restless energetic 
disposition. At one moment if may be seen twisting backwards 
and forwards, over and under the branches, in its search for 
insects, at another fluttering into the air in pursuit of a gnat or 
fly, whilst, yet again, it may be seen racing along some bough 
after a quickly travelling beetle or other prey. Itis by no means 
shy and keeps uttering continually a httle chattering call of several 
