174 TIMAL1ID.E. 



handsome eggs as those of the erythrocepJuilum group. Eight eggs 

 average 28'5 x 20'5 mm. 



Habits. Similar to those of other Laughing-Thrushes, but 

 perhaps they are rather more often seen frequenting low trees as 

 well as undergrowth. It is found between 4.000 and 8,000 feet. 



(163) Trochalopterum variegatum simile. 

 THE WESTERN VAKIEGATED LAUGHING-THKUSH. 



Trochalopteron simile Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 408 (Far Ts T .W. Gilgit) : 

 Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 96. 



Vernacular names. Xone recorded. 



Description. Differs from the Eastern form in having tlie outer 

 webs of the wing-feathers slaty blue and in having the yellow on 

 the tail replaced with the same slaty-blue. 



Colours of soft parts. Legs and feet flesh-colour ; bill black ; 

 iris brown (Di\ G. Henderson). 



Measurements as in the last bird. 



Distribution. The Western portion of Kashmir and the 

 Hazara country. Very common in the galis round about Murree 



and Naini-Tal, extends up the Grilgit Valley above Gilgit and up 

 to the frontier of Afghanistan. 



Nidification. Breeds very commonly from Murree south-west- 

 wards, being found up to some 10,000 feet and down to 5,000 feet. 

 'The nest is a big cup with very thick walls composed of grass, 

 i leaves, tine twigs and roots, lined with the latter, and measuring 



anything from 5 to 9 inches in diameter by 5 or 6 deep. The 

 internal cup is about 4 by 2| inches deep. It is usually 

 placed well up in a fir, deodar or other tree, sometimes as high 

 as 25 feet and seldom low down in bushes. The eggs number 



three or four, rarely five, and are like those of the last bird, but 

 generally more blotched or spotted and less freckled. Fifty eggs 

 : average 27'8 x 21-0 mm. 



The breeding season is from the beginning of May to the end 



of June. 



Habits. This Laughing-Thrush, like the last, is much more of a 

 tree bird than most others of the genus, and will be found quite 



-as often hunting for insects well up in the trees as low down 

 in the undergrowth and bushes. It is found up to at least 

 10,000 feet, and possibly higher, and in winter descends to 



. about 4,000 feet. 



(164) Trochalopterum squamatum. 

 THE BLUE-WINGED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



lanthocinda squamata Gould, P. Z. S., 1835, p. 48 (Himalayas, 



Sikkim). 

 Trochalopterum squamatum. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 96. 



Vernacular names. Tarmal-pJio (Lepcha) ; Nabom (Bhut.); 

 ',Wo-k)-ang-krang-mut (Kachiu). 



