464 TROGLODYTID®. 
through the eye is acquired during the summer with the com- 
pletion of the first plumage, but the full brightness of the adult 
plumage not until the following moult. 
Distribution. Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim, the whole of Assam 
North and South of the Brahmaputra, Chin, Kachin Hills and pos- 
sibly Annam. McClelland’s olivea, a name given to Assam birds, 
cannot stand, as the Assam birds differ in no way from the Nepal © 
and Sikkim birds and I have seen specimens from the Kachin 
Hills every bit as bright above and as dark below as any specimen 
from those countries. They vary very greatly individually and large 
series are necessary for comparison. 
Nidification. The Slaty-bellied Wren breeds in April, May and 
June South of the Brahmaputra and in June and July North of it, 
at all heights between 2,000 and 10,000 feet. The nest is a 
beautiful ball of bright green moss lined with moss roots and 
measuring some 5 inches in diameter, or, according to Hodgson, 
more oval in shape, measuring about 7x5 inches. It may be 
placed either ina tangle of creepers or in dense, Jong moss against 
a tree or stump, or may be built in amongst the numerous 
branches of a thick, low bush, whilst. very rarely, it may be 
placed on a steep bank or against a rock or heap of boulders. 
The eggs number three or four, very rarely five and vary con- 
siderably in appearance. ‘The ground-colour is a very pale pink, 
often with a yellowish-salmon tint; the markings consist of 
reddish-pink specks and spots, sometimes so fine and so numerous 
as to make the eggs look an almost uniform terra-cotta, at other 
times sparser and much bolder, showing up well against the 
ground-colour and more numerous at the larger end than else- 
where. In shape they are normally rather long but blunt 
ovals. Fifty eggs average 17-4 x 12°9 mm. and the extremes are: 
maxima, 19°1x 13:1 and 17°9x13°6 mm.; minima, 16:8 x 13:2 
and 18-0 x 12:0 mm. 
Habits. This Wren is found over a greater range of altitude 
than any ot the others with the exception of the next bird. It is 
certainly found up to at least 10,000 feet in Sikkim in summer, 
whilst, on the other hand, Stevens found it right down amongst 
the foothills and broken ground on the North bank of the Brah- 
maputra, but it must be remembered that in temperature the 
plains of North and North-East Assam are equivalent to an 
altitude of at least 2,000 feet South of the river and in Burma. 
It is a purely forest bird, preferring forests which have an ample 
undergrowth in which it can skulk about without showing itself. 
It is very loth to take flight and if one can mark it into a dense 
isolated bush it can easily be caught with a butterfly net. It 
much affects the vicinity of tiny w ater- -courses through boulders 
and dense evergreen forest, and its high, shrill note may be heard 
mornings and evenings above the ripple of the water. It is 
exclusiv ely insectivorous. 
