286 TIMALIID®. 
(300) Scheniparus rufigularis. 
THe Rep-THROATED T1T- BABBLER. 
Minla rufigularis Mandelli, 8. F., i, p. 416 (1878) (Bhutan Duars), 
Scheniparus rufigularis. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 170. 
Vernacular names. None recorded. 
Description. Forehead; crown and nape chestnut, bounded on 
each side by a black band, the two meeting on the nape; lores and 
supercilia white ; upper part of ear-coverts and a patch below the 
eye blackish ; lower part of ear-coverts rufous, connected together 
by a broad chestnut band across the throat ; upper piumage, wings 
and tail olive-green, the outer webs of the feathers of wings and 
tail suffused with fulvous; chin, throat and centre of breast 
and abdomen white; remainder of the lower plumage olivaceous, 
tinged with rufous on the under tail-coverts. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris reddish brown to lake-brown; bill 
black; legs and feet yellowish brown, fleshy-brown or fleshy-livid. 
Measurements. Total length about 140 mm.; wine’ 51 to 
55mm.; tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 21 to 22 mm.; culmen 
about 10 to 1i mm. 
Distribution. Bhutan Duars; Assam North and South of the 
Brahmaputra, Manipur and Eastern Bengal Hill tracts. 
Nidification. This little Tit-Babbler breeds in great numbers all 
round the toot-hills of Margherita in E. Assam and probably up 
to some 3,500 feet. Dr. H. N. Coltart and L took many nests and 
had many brought to us, with the birds, from the central ranges. 
The nest is like that of the dubius group but perhaps more moss, 
roots, fern and bracken are used in its construction. It is always 
placed on the ground and quite as often in small serub- and bamboo- 
jungle as in forest whilst occasionally we found it in small ravines 
running through tea cultivation. The eggs are similar to those of 
other birds of the genus but are decidedly greyer and less bold in 
coloration asa whole. One hundred eggs average 19°5 x 14:7 mm., 
the extremes being 21:1 15-7 mm. and 17°3 x 13-9 mm. 
Habits. Those of the genus, put I think this bird feeds less on 
the ground than the other species and flies more freely and often 
without being frightened into doing so. 
Genus PSEUDOMINLA Oates, 1894. 
The generic name Sittiparus being preoccupied Oates renamed 
his genus as above. ‘This genus contains two species within 
Indian limits which differ from Schaniparus in having the tail 
much shorter than the wing, whilst from Croparus it differs in 
having no hairs overhanging the nostrils. 
