458 TROGLODYTID2. 
(471) Pnoepyga squamata squamata. 
THE SCALY-BREASTED WREN, 
Microura squamata Gould, Icon. Aves, pl. v (1837) (Cachar). VWU% 
Pnoepyga squamata. Blanf, & Oates, 1, p. 342. 
Vernacular names. JMarchok-bong (Lepcha) ; Lnrui-ba gadiba 
(Kacha Naga). 
Description.—Adult male. Whole upper plumage and lesser 
wing-coverts rich golden-brown, the forehead, feathers above the 
eve and sides of neck with fulvous shaft-stripes, the remaining upper 
plumage with fulvous subterminal drops and with black edges, the 
latter becoming bolder on the rump where the drops often become 
bars; median and greater coverts brown, broadly edged with 
chestnut-brown and often with terminal fulvous spots ; primaries 
and secondaries chestnut-brown on the visible portions and the 
innermost secondaries often tipped with fulvous; chin and throat 
white with brown edges to the feathers; breast and centre of the 
abdomen white, the feathers with Dreads black centres and edges 3 
sides of the brenee and flanks fulvous-brown with similar dark: 
centres and margins ; under tail-coverts and vent fulvous. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright hazel to deep brown; Dill 
horny-brown above, pale fleshy-horny on lower mandible, gape and 
commissure ; legs fleshy-brown to light brown. 
Measurements. Length about 100 mm.; wing 59 to 64 mm. ; 
tail about 14mm.; tarsus 21 to 23 mm.; culmen 11 to 12 mm. 
Adult female. Similar to the male but with the whole lower 
plumage fulvous instead of white, every part marked as in the 
male, though in some specimens the chin and throat are almost 
immaculate. 
Distribution. The Himalayas from the Sutlej] Valley to Eastern 
Assam. both North and South of the Brahmaputra; Chin Hills 
and West and South-West Burma to Tenasserim. 
Nidification. The Scaly-breasted Wren breeds from the end of 
April to the middle of June between 3,500 and 7,000 feet. It 
makes two very distinct types of nest, either of which is among 
the most beautiful specimens of birds’ architecture. That most 
commonly made is built in and of the long strands of brilliant 
green moss which clothes the trunks and branches of so many trees 
in the more humid forests. The inner strands are compactly and 
firmly woven together to form a tiny cup, well lined with black 
moss roots, over all of which the outer green strands fall in natural 
profusion so that the tiny entrance, little more than an inch across, 
can never be found without most careful search. The second type 
of nest is a tiny ball of the same brillant green moss, tightly 
wedged in amongst the masses of orchids, ferns and creepers. 
growing over breés: dead and alive, or aller logs. <A third type 
6 nest, a cup-shaped one of moss, was found by Mandelli ina bush, 
