TBOOHALOPTBEUM. 181 



coverts plain ashy; tail marked with rufous, cross-rayed, with a 

 subterminal black band and grey tips : wings chiefly rufous on 

 the outer webs, the inner secondaries edged with grey ; lores and 

 a ring round the eye mingled white and grey ; cheeks, ear-coverts 

 and an indistinct supercilium castaneous ; chin, throat, breast and 

 upper abdomen chestnut, all the feathers with ashy margins and 

 those of the breast with glistening white shafts ; lower abdomen, 

 flanks and under tail-coverts ashy-brown. 



Colours of soft parts. Bill dusky, the base of the lower 

 mandible greyish or brownish-horny ; iris brown or reddish brown ; 

 feet fleshy-brown, claws livid horny. 



Measurements. Length about 200 to 210 mm. ; wing 74 to 

 77 mm. ; tail about 90 mm.; tarsus ahout 27 mm. ; culmen 18'5 

 to 20-8 mm. 



Distribution, Nepal, Sikkim. 



Nidification and Habits similar to those of the better known 

 form, next described. Eggs taken in Native Sikkim and Darjeeling 

 average about 26'0 x 18'8 mm. 



(172) Trochalopterum lineatum griseicentior. 

 THE SIMLA STREAKED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



lanthocinda lineatum griseicentior Hartert. Vog. Pal., i, p. 636 

 (1910) (Simla). 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



Description. A paler bird than the preceding, both above and 

 below, with much broader grey edges to the feathers of the uuder- 

 parts. 



Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in T. I. lineatum. 



Distribution. Garhwal, Kumaon, Simla and S. Kashmir. 



Nidification. The Simla Streaked Laughing-Thrush breeds in 

 great numbers throughout its range between 5,000 and 8,000 feet. 

 The breeding season is very extended and eggs have been taken in 

 every month from March to September, though probably those 

 laid in July to September are second broods. The nests are made of 

 dry grass, leaves, small pliant twigs and stems of plants, scraps of 

 bracken and roots and they are lined with either roots or grass 

 stems, generally the latter. They are bulky nests measuring 

 roughly anything from 6" to 10" in outward diameter by some 

 3" to 5" in depth, the egg-cavity being about 3'' x 2^" or rather 

 more. It is placed either in some thick bush in undergrowth or 

 on a branch low down in a big tree, the Deodar being a special 

 favourite and, though so big a nest, is always well concealed. The 

 normal full clutch of eggs is three, rarely four and not seldom two 

 only. They are unspotted blue-green in colour and have a 

 smooth satiny surface with but little gloss. 100 eggs average 

 25-6 x 18-4 mm. 



