GKAMMATOPTILA. 185 



Nidification. The Striated Laughing-Thrush breeds throughout 

 its range at heights varying between 3,500 and 7,000 feet, but is 

 not often found nesting below 4,500 feet. The nest is a large, rather 

 deep cup, about 9 to 10 inches in diameter by some 4 to 5 deep 

 and is composed largely of moss with grass, leaves, roots and 

 tendrils mixed and a compact lining of roots. It is generally 

 placed some 6 to 12 feet up in small saplings and other trees. 

 The eggs are almost invariably two in number and are long ovals 

 of pale blue, in nearly every case spotless, but rarely with a 

 few tiny specks of blackish or reddish. They average about 

 33-8 x 23-2 mm. 



This is a very favourite fosterer for the Bed-winged Cuckoo 

 (0. coromandus). The breeding season lasts from April to July. 



Habits. This bird is a true Laughing-Thrush in its habits but is 

 more arboreal than most, frequenting both bush and the lower 

 trees alike. It is found in pairs and small parties and is very 

 loquacious, some of its notes being likened by Jerdon to those of 

 a hen which has laid an egg. It feeds on insects and fruit and 

 seeds, the latter to a greater extent than most of the family. 



(178) Grammatoptila striata austeni. 



AUSTEN'S STRIATED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



Grammatoptila austeni Gates, Avifauna B. I., i, p. 104 (1889) 

 (Dafla Hills). 



Vernacular names. Daopa (Cachari). 



Description. Differs from the preceding bird in having two 

 broad dark coronal bauds meeting on the nape; no shaft-stripes 

 on the crown, and those elsewhere narrower but better defined. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown to dark red ; legs and 

 feet pale slaty-grey, soles yellowish ; bill dark slaty-brown or 

 " bluish-horny " (Stevens). 



Measurements as in G. striata striata. 



Distribution. Hills south of the Brahmaputra as far east as 

 Margherita. Stevens procured this form on the eastern water- 

 shed of the Sabansiri Eiver, and Falkiner and Kemp both procured 

 it on the Mishmi Expedition, so that it appears to work round the 

 head-waters of the Brahmaputra, Dibong and Dihong as far 

 west as this river. 



Nidification. I found this bird breeding freely above 4,500 feet in 

 the Khasia Hills and more rarely so in the N. Cachar Hills. Nest 

 and eggs like those of the last bird, but I have never seen any 

 egg marked at all. Twenty eggs average about 31-5x23'5 mm. 



Habits. Frequents pine-woods as well as other forest, provided 

 there is any undergrowth ; otherwise its habits are like those of 

 G. s. striata. 



