PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 39 



Su b -fa mil y Crateropodin ss . 

 Babblers. 

 This sub-family contains the larger gregarious Babblers, 

 which lay unspotted eggs. It is not well represented in 

 Ceylon, though one species, thd familiar "seven sisters," is one 

 of our commonest birds. Out of ten genera and about 

 seventy species found within Indian limits, only four species 

 occur in this Island. Two of these are specifically, and two 

 sub-specifically, distinct from the nearest Indian forms. 

 All four species are of about the same size, that of an English 

 Thrush. They pass a good deal of their time in trees, but 

 pick up their food from the ground, hopping along in small 

 troops, and making an incessant chatter as they turn over 

 dead leaves, &c., in search of the insects on which they feed. 

 Their legs are strong, their wings rounded and \^eak. In the 

 genus Crateropus, to which two species undoubtedly belong, 

 the bill is moderately long and only slightly curved. The 

 position of a third species, C. cinereifrons, is doubtful. It 

 differs from the other members of the genus in having a black, 

 not a yeUow, bill, while the covering membrane of the 

 nostrils is bare instead of being half concealed with plumelets. 

 Its eggs are not known with certainty, and may be white. 

 Those of the other Crateropi are blue. In the genus Pomato- 

 rhinus the bill is as long as the head, slender, and with a 

 pronounced curve. The under plumage is mainly white, 

 and so are the eggs. 



Key to Ceylon Crater opodinse. 

 A. — Bill fairly stout, not greatly curved, no white in 

 plumage. Genus Crateropus. 



(1) Bill yeUo wish. 



(a) Plumage ashy-brown, outer web of primaries 

 much paler than inner. 



C. striatus striatus (Southern Indian Babbler). 



(b) Plumage rufous-brown, outer web of primaries 

 not much paler than inner. 



C. rufescens (Ceylonese Babbler). 



(2) Bill black. 



C. cinereifrons (Ashy-headed Babbler). 



