186 TIMALlIDjE. 



Genus STACTOCICHLA Sharpe, 1883. 



This genus contains a single species, a brown bird with a spotted 

 breast extremely Thrush-like in appearance. The bill is long and 

 slender, the tail and wing about equal in length, the latter short 

 and rounded as usual. A new form of this species has recently 

 been described from Annain * . 



(179) Stactocichla merulina merulina. 

 THE SPOTTED-BREASTED LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



(jfarntlax merulinus Blyth, J. A. S.B., xx, p. 521 (1851) (Manipur). 

 Stactocichla merulina. Blanford & Gates, i, p. 104. 



Vernacular names. Moh mepeh (Angami Naga). 



Description. A narrow white streak above the ear-coverts ; 

 forehead mottled with grey; remainder of upper plumage, exposed 

 parts of wings and tail rut'escent olive-brown ; chin, throat and 

 breast yellowish buff, broadly streaked with oval black stripes ; 

 centre of abdomen the same colour unstriped; flanks rufescent 

 olive-brown ; under tail-coverts bright ochraceous. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris pale yellowish or pinkish, brown in 

 young birds ; legs and feet pale to dark brown, the soles paler and 

 claws darker; bill dark horny-brown, black at tip and on culmen, 

 greyish on lower mandible. 



Measurements. Length about 260 to 270 mm.; wing 93 to 

 99 mm. ; tail about 96 mm. ; tarsus about 40 mm. ; culmen about 

 24 mm. 



Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra South to Manipur 

 and Lushai, East to Lakhimpur. 



Nidification. Breeds above 3,500 feet from April to July, but 

 principally in the end of June, both in bamboo-jungle and in 

 forest. In the former the nest is made almost entirely of bamboo 

 leaves, mixed with grass, moss, roots, etc., and lined with roots ; 

 when placed in forest the major part of the materials is moss 

 mixed with dead leaves, roots, tendrils, etc., and lined with moss 

 and fern roots. In shape a hemispherical cup, it is generally 

 placed close to the ground either in a bamboo clump or a dense 

 bush, more seldom in a high bush or small sapling. 



The eggs, two or three in number, are large replicas of those of 

 Trochalopterum virgatum, a shade darker, perhaps, but of the same 

 shape and texture. 50 eggs average 23'7 X 21'7 mm. 



Habits. Although so aberrant in appearance, this is a true 

 Laughing-Thrush in its habits ; very gregarious, it is found in 

 flocks of ten to twenty individuals ; very noisy, it possesses a wide 

 range of very beautiful notes as well as many others less pleasing ; 

 a terrible skulker, it is one of the hardest birds to watch or procure. 



* Robinson & Kloss, Ibis, 1919, p. 577 (S. Annam). 



