RHOPOCICHLA. 281 
Genus RHOPOCICHLA Oates, 1889. 
This genus differs from Alcippe in having the nostrils rounder, 
exposed and pierced in the anterior part of the membrane, and in 
having a shorter tail when compared with the wing. The bill is 
curved throughout ; there are no hairs overhanging the nostrils 
but the rictal bristles are well developed. There is only one species 
in the genus confined to S. India and Ceylon, where it is repre- 
sented by three races. 
Rhopocichla atriceps. 
Key to Subspecies. 
A. Grown and sides of the head black .. R. a. atriceps, p. 281. 
B. Forehead and ear-coverts only black.. R. a. nigrifrons, p. 282. 
C. Ear-coverts only blackish .......... R. a. bourdilloni, p. 282. 
(294) Rhopocichla atriceps atriceps. 
Tur BLACK-HEADED BABBLER. 
Brachypteryx atriceps Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S., x, p. 250 (1839) 
(Trichoor). 
Rhopocichla atriceps. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 160. 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Forehead, crown, nape, ear-coverts and under the 
eye black; the whole upper plumage, wings and tail fulvous 
brown ; lower plumage dull white, changing to olivaceous on the 
flanks and under tail-coverts. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow, pale orange or buff; 
pill dull black, commissure and lower mandible fleshy-pink ; legs 
and feet pale plumbeous shaded in varying: degree with fleshy- 
pink or dull purple. 
Measurements. Total leneth about 140 mm.; wing 54 to 60mm.; 
tailabout 50 mm.; tarsus about 23mm.; culmen abont 13 to 14mm. 
Distribution. The Nilgiris and hills of S.W. India, not 
Travancore. 
Nidification. The Black-headed Babbler appears to breed in 
almost every month of the year from December to August and 
probably in the other three also, It makes an oval nest of grass 
lined with softer bits of the same which it places in bamboos, 
grass and reeds by roadsides through jungle, in reed-beds or scrub- 
jungle. It is found during the breeding season from the lower 
hills up to 6,000 feet. 
The eggs, two in number, are pure white with numerous small 
spots and dots of dark purple-red scattered over the whole surface 
but generally more numerous at the larger end. The texture is 
hard and glossy. Twenty eggs average about 19-2 x 13-9 mm. 
Habits. The birds of this genus are said to have much the same 
habits as those of Pellorneum, i. e. they are shy, rather skulking 
