TBOCHALOPTERUM. 165 



black with pinkish- white edges aud the lores, cheeks, chin and 

 upper throat are hlack. The upper tail-coverts are olive-green. 



Colours of soft parts. Bill dark horny-brown or blackish brown ; 

 legs dark fleshy or yellowish brown ; iris grey-brown ; " red " 

 (Jtrdon). 



Measurements. Total length about 260 to 270 mm. ; wing 100 

 to 105 mm.; tail 112 to 115mm.; tarsus about 38mm.; culmen 

 about 21 to 22 mm. 



Distribution. Eastern Nepal to the Daphla and Mikir Hills in 

 Assam. 



Nidification. Breeds throughout its range in the months of 

 April, May and early June at elevations of 5,500 feet upwards. 

 The nest is a massive deep cup made of leaves, grass and a large 

 proportion of moss, bound together with tendrils and roots. The 

 lining generally consists of fine roots with an inner lining of 



Fig. 29. Head of T. e. nigrimentum. 



matted dead leaves, but this latter is not always present. Most 

 nests are placed in thick bushes, but others mav be found on small 

 saplings, and the site selected is either the fringe of forest and 

 heavy jungle or scrub-jungle and secondary growth. The eggs 

 number two or three and are like those of the rest of the genus, 

 but are generally very sparsely marked. Seventeen eggs average 

 about 28-7x21-1 mm. 



Habits. This is a bird of high elevations from 5,000 up to 

 9,000 feet or more. It has the usual habits of the genus and is 

 quite common in the woods round about Darjeeling, where in the 

 early morning and evening it may often be surprised on the roads 

 and jungle paths, hunting in small parties for insects in the cattle 

 droppings, but scuttling off promptly into cover when disturbed. 



(151) Trochalopterum erythrocephalum godwini. 



GODWIN- AUSTEN'S RED-HEADED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



Trochalopterum erythrocephalum f/odwini Harington, Bull. B. O. C., 

 xxxiii, p. 92 (1914) (Hengdan, N. Cachar Hills). 



Vernacular names. Dao-qua-lok (Cachari), 



