PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 49 



and lower cheeks, with black bases which give the plumage 

 a sullied appearance ; flank, vent, and under tail coverts 

 rufous-olive. 



Birds vary a good deal in the tint of the upper plumage, 

 specimens from the low wet zone being, as a rule, decidedly 

 more rufous, those from the hills more olive-brown, while 

 birds from the northern forests are intermediate. 



Bill dark brown on the tip, the margins of the upjjer mandible 

 and the lower mandible flesh colour ; iris whitish or pale 

 yellow ; legs and feet fleshy lavender. 



Length 5*1 ; wing 2-2; tail 1-8; tarsus -85; bill from 

 gape "7. 



Distribution. — The present sub-species is confined to 

 Ceylon, but is widely distributed over the whole Island. 

 Allied sub-species occur on the Nilgiris and in Travancore. 



Habits. — Common everywhere in thickets and forest 

 undergrowth, especially bamboo scrub. It is an active 

 little bird, which flits about in small parties uttering a shrill 

 little rattling note. It appears to breed intermittently from 

 December to June. The nest, which is frequently met with 

 in the jungle, looks almost like a chance wisp of dry grass 

 or bunch of dead leaves stuck in the fork of a sapling or bush 

 about 4 to 7 feet from the ground. The inside is pocket- 

 shaped and tilted, so that the opening lies, in some cases, 

 almost horizontally. The t\\o or occasional!}^ three eggs are 

 smooth paper-white ovals scattered over with spots of brown- 

 ish-red and a few specks of bluish -gray. Average size -75 

 by -55. 



Sub-famil}^ Lioirichinse. 

 Bush and Green Bulbuls. 



With this sub-family, which includes three species found 

 in Ceylon, we come to a group of birds distinguished from the 

 rest of the Crateropodidse by the difference in plumage between 

 the two sexes. Unlike the Babblers, they are strictly arboreal 

 in their habits, frequenting leafy trees and living on fruit 

 and insects. In all three Ceylon species the bill is slender, 



7 6(17)21 



