ARGYA. 197 



b. Chin and throat immaculate white or 



pale fulvous. 



a'. Lower plumage pale fulvous. [p. 198. 



a". Above reddish brown A. caudata caudata, 



b". Above more grey-brown A. c. huttoni, p. 199. 



b'. Lower plumage ferruginous A. yularis, p. 199. 



B. Head not streaked, back with oval brown 



spots A. malcolmi, p. 200. 



C. No streaks or spots on head or upper 



plumage. 



c. Chin and throat rufous, lores dark .... A. subrufa,-p. 201. 



d. Chin, upper throat and lores white. ... A, logirostris, p. 202. 



(191) Argya earlii. 



THE STRIATED BABBLER. 



Malac.ocercus earlii Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvii, p. 369 (1844) (Calcutta). 

 Argya earlii. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 105. 



Vernacular names. Barra-plienya (Hindi). 

 Description. Upper plumage brown tinged with rufous, the 

 feathers of the crowu largely centred with very dark brown, those 



Fig. 32. Head of A. earlii. 



of: the back with very dark shaft-stripes ; upper tail-coverts obso- 

 letely dark-shafted; tail brown, the shafts darker and the feathers 

 cross-rayed ; wings brown, the lesser coverts dark-centred ; lores 

 grey ; cheeks and ear-coverts plain rufescent ; chin, throat and 

 breast the same, the dark stripes increasing in size downwards ; 

 remainder of lower plumage pale buffy-brown, albescent in the 

 middle of the abdomen. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow ; eyelid plumbeous ; 

 bill fleshy-yellow, the culmen, nostril and tip darker horn-colour ; 

 mouth vellow ; legs plumbeous or fleshy-plumbeous, claws 

 pinkish. 



Measurements. Length about 140 mm. ; wing 85 to 93 mm. ; 

 tail about 120 to 130 mm. ; culmen about 20 mm. ; tarsus about 

 32 mm. 



Distribution. From Sind to the llun of Cutch, along the base 

 of the Himalayas to Behar, all over Behar and Bengal, East 

 through Assam, North and South of the Brahmaputra, through 

 Cliittagong, Chin Hills and Arrakan to Pegu. 



