36 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



In young birds the gray of the back is tinged with yellow 

 and the white of the under parts with buff. 



Bill black ; iris brown ; legs and feet lead colour. Length 

 about 5*5; wing 2*75; tail 2 • 4 ; tarsus • 7 ; bill from gape * 5. 



Distribution. — ^The Indian race of the Gray Tit is found 

 almost throughout the Indian Empire. In Ceylon it is 

 common above about 2,000 feet. In the low-country forests 

 it is rare, but seems to be resident here and there, and appears 

 at certain seasons in other localities. It is occasionally seen 

 in Colombo gardens, where in one or two instances it has been 

 known to breed. 



Habits. — This is a very familiar species in the hUls, and 

 may be seen, in almost every up-country garden, busily 

 engaged hopping about tree trunks and branches. In the 

 low-country it keeps mainly to the forests. In the hills the 

 breeding season appears to extend from March to July. 

 In the Puttalam District I have found it building its nest in 

 April, while in Colombo a pair were observed breeding in 

 February. The nest is rather a loose bunch of moss, feathers, 

 hair, or coir fibre placed in a hole of a tree, wall, or bank. 

 There are four to six eggs. They are oval in shape ; the 

 ground colour is white or pinkish- white, with red spots 

 generally more or less confined to a ring round the larger end. 



Family Crateropodid^. 

 Babblers, Bulbuls, dhc. 



The Crateropodidse, as treated by Oatse, comprise a large 

 group of ten-primaried Passeres, in which the plumage of the 

 nestling resembles that of the adult female, and which bear 

 the following characteristics : nostrils never entirely concealed 

 by hairs or bristles ; rictal bristles present ; twelve tail 

 feathers ; inner and hind toe equal. This group he divided 

 into six sub-famUies. Crateropodinss — the larger gregarious 

 Babblers ; TimeliijisR — the smaller Babblers ; Brachyptery- 

 ginse — the Whistling Thrushes and Shortwings ; Sibiinsa — 

 confined in Ceylon to two species of White-eye ; Liotrichinse — 

 the Bush and Green Bulbuls ; Brachypodinee — -the true 

 Bulbuls. 



