144 TIMALIIDJE. 



Habits. This Laughing-Thrush is found between 5,000 and 

 7,000 feet in the Bhamo Hills ; it is said to have a " very fine, 

 almost human whistle which can easily be imitated and by which 

 it can be called up. It generally keeps to very dense forest." 



(126) Dryonastes sannio. 

 TUB WHITE-BROWED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



Gurrulax sannio Swinh., Ibis, 1867, p. 403 (China). 

 Dryonastes sanniu. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 76. 



Vernacular names. Shong-shay, Wo-froiv (Kachin). 

 Description. Lores, cheeks, lower part of the ear-coverts and a 

 supercilium to the nape yellowish white ; remainder of head, neck, 

 chin and throat chestnut-brown ; upper plumage and exposed parts- 

 of wings olive-brown ; tail rufous-brown ; centre of breast and 

 abdomen pale oehraceous ; sides of same rufous olive-brown ; 

 under tail-coverts bright oehraceous. 



Colours of soft parts. Legs and feet pale brown with a faint 

 purplish-fleshy tinge ; claws darker ; bill blackish ; orbital skin 

 pale fleshy-grey; iris dull brownish maroon, liver-brown, or light 

 brown (Hume). 



Measurements. Length about 250 to 260 mm.; wing 95 to 99 

 mm. ; tail about 100 to 105 mm. ; tarsus about 35 mm. ; culmen 

 about 18 to 19 mm. 



Distribution. The extreme east of Cachar Hills, Manipur, Chin 

 and Kachin Hills, Shan States into S.W. China, Fohkien (La 

 Touche). 



Nidification. The breeding season commences in February, but 

 most eggs are laid in April and May and from then onwards to 

 the middle of June. The nest is like that of rufaollis but with 

 more grass in its construction, and is generally placed low down 

 in brambles, bushes or thick grass, but in the Shan States it 

 appears to select small trees and saplings for nesting purposes. 

 The eggs vary from two to four in number and in colour from 

 pure white to pale blue. They have the extremely hard, glossy 

 texture of the eggs of the Eufous-necked Laughing-Thrush, 

 from which they cannot be distinguished. Eighty eggs average 

 26-0 x 19-6 mm. 



Habits. A very rare bird in Cachar and Mauipur, this Laughing- 

 Thrush becomes extremely common in the Kachin and Chin Hills 

 between 3,000 and 5,500 feet. In its habits it is the same noisy, 

 gregarious bird as is rvfaollis, and, though a skulker in low jungle, 

 is not shy or intolerant of observation. According -to Harington 

 they collect together in the evenings and are then often very 

 noisy, but their notes are more complaining and less hilarious than 

 those of the White-crested Laughing-Thrushes. 



