44 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Habits.— A shy woodland species, which keeps close to 

 cover, and ventures near habitations only when the thickets 

 admit. In the hills it is especially fond of the strips of jungle 

 bordering streams. It occurs usually in pairs, but sometimes 

 in small troops. Its presence is most frequently made known 

 by its deep melodious call, which Legge represents by the 

 syllables " wok-wok-ek-ek-wok," answered by a shorter call 

 from the female. In the hiUs the breeding season appears to 

 be from December to February. In the Puttalam District 

 I have taken the eggs in March. The nest is rather a loose, 

 more or less domed structure of leaves, grass, &c., placed in a 

 bank or against the foot of a bush. Three to five white eggs 

 are laid. The shell is thin and smooth, but not very glossy. 

 Average size '95 by '70. 



Sub-family Timeliinx. 



The Smaller Babblers. 



The Timeliinse are a large group of small Babblers, over 

 fifty species being found within Indian limits. They are 

 solitary or less gregarious than the larger Babblers, and are not 

 noisy. They are skulking in their habits, frequenting bushy 

 places, or the undergrowth in forests, keeping largely to the 

 ground and avoiding observation. The eggs of all Ceylon 

 species are spotted. The wings are short and rounded, the 

 legs and feet strong. The sub-family is not weU represented 

 with us, only four species out of as many genera occurring in 

 the Island. Of these, one is specifically and two sub-specifi- 

 cally distinct from any forms found in India. In the genus 

 Dumetia the feathers of the forehead and crown have rigid 

 shafts, the tail is comparatively long and graduated, and the 

 bill fairly slender. In Pyctorhis the bill is deep and not 

 notched, the nostrils are oval and exposed. In Scotocichla 

 the bill is slender, the nostrils linear ; the tail is graduated 

 and almost as long as the wing ; the tarsus and toes are long 

 and stout. In BJiopocichla the nostrils are rounded and well 

 exposed, the tail short, and only slightly graduated. 



