So TIMALIID®, 
Colours of soft parts. Iris pale greenish or greyish white to deep 
lavender-, green-, or blue-grey of almost every conceivable tint 
and sometimes (Godwin-Austen) amber ; bill pale plumbeous, the 
base of mandible and most of the culmen black ; legs and feet pale 
fleshy-white to pale fleshy-brown, claws horny-brown and soles 
more yellowish. 
Measurements. Total length about 190 mm.; wing 80 to 85 mm.; 
tail about 60 to65mm.; tarsus about 28 to 29 mm.; culmen about 
17 mm. 
Female and Young. The upper part of the head bluish grey 
instead of black and supercilium very indistinct; upper plumage 
olive-grey ; smaller wing-coverts black edged with yellowish; greater 
coverts black with yellow outer webs ; primary-coverts and winglet 
black ; the earlier primaries edged with hoary-grey, the others 
with vellow; inner secondaries chestnut; the central tail-feathers 
green, the others black with broad green margins to the outer webs 
and tipped with yellow; lower plumage entirely pale buff. 
Measurements a little smaller than the male; wing 78 to 81 mm, 
Z 
Lo 
Fig. 62.—Head of P. erythropterus. 
The young male assumes the adult plumage in the first autumn. 
Distribution. The Himalayas from Hazara to E. Assam, Mani- 
pur and the Chin Hills. 
Nidification. This Shrike-Babbler breeds between 3,500 and 
9,000 feet in June. Col. R. H. Rattray describes its nest as one 
of the most difficult to find, being always built in the smaller twigs 
very high up in high trees in forest. The nest is a strong, neat 
cradle of fine roots, built, like an Oriole’s, pendent from a small 
fork. ‘Three eggs taken on the 11th of June were a pale lilac- 
white with numerous fine specks and spots of deep purple, forming 
deep rings round the extreme larger end and finely peppered 
over the rest of the surface. ‘They are broad ovals in shape, of a 
rather fragile, glossless texture and measure about 21:8 x 16-2mm. 
A nest taken by myself on the Khasia Hills in May contained 
two abnormal, addled eggs. Neither nest nor eggs bear any 
resemblance to those of the Laniide or Campephagide. 
Habits. In the Himalayas from West to East this bird seems to 
be found from 5,000 feet upwards but in the hills South of the 
Brahmaputra they descend to 3,500 feet and are common, even 
in summer, at 4,000 feet. They consort either in pairs or in small 
