TROCHALOPTERUM. 77 



1879, p. 97. Trochalopteron simile, Hume> Ibis, 1871, p. 408; id. and 

 Henderson, Lahore to Fark.,p. 193, pi. vii. ; Hume, Str. F. 1875^.407; 

 1879, p. 97 ; Biddulph Ibis, 1881, p. 53. The VARIEGATED LAUGHING 

 THRUSH. 



Forehead fulvous, crown of the head, ear coverts and hind neck ashy 

 brown ; a small stripe from the nape through the eyes black, surmounted by a 

 narrow white line behind the eye ; cheeks and sides of the throat fulvous, 

 separated from the ear coverts by an indistinct streak of whitish, on the 

 hinder part of which is a black spot ; throat black ; foreneck, chest, sides of 

 the breast and flanks ashy olive brown, slightly washed with fulvous ; the 

 breast, abdomen, thighs, vent and under tail coverts tawny buff, deepening on 

 the latter ; upper surface of body olive brown, or brownish grey ; wing coverts 

 the same ; the greater series orange rufous at the tips and on the outer webs of 

 the external ones, forming a wing patch ; primary coverts black ; quills dusky, 

 olive golden on the outer webs ; the primaries ashy grey on the outer webs, 

 the secondaries the same towards their ends, with a black band across the 

 centre of the feather on the outer web ; inner secondaries tipped with white 

 on their outer webs ; central tail feathers black, with a broad subterminal 

 ashy grey band and tipped narrowly with white ; the rest black, externally 

 golden olive, the inner webs ashy brown near the tips ; under wing coverts 

 and axillaries tawny buff; the edge of the wing rufous. Bill black; legs 

 reddish ; irides brown. 



Length. 10 to I0'8 inches; wing 4*1 ; tail 47 to 5-1 ; tarsus 1-45 ; oil- 

 men 0*9 



Hab. Himalayas from Cashmere to Nepaul. Recorded from Gilgit, 

 Murree, Simla and Kumaon. Does not appear to extend to Sikkim. Breeds 

 from the central portion of Nepaul to Murree during April, May and June. 

 Nest a compact shallow cup, composed of coarse grass exteriorly, fine roots 

 and fibres on the inside, intermixed both on the outer and inner side with 

 pieces of dead leaves. There is little or no lining in the nest, which is from 

 5 to 8 inches in diameter, with an egg-cavity of about 3 inches. The 

 nest is usually placed a few feet from the ground (8 to 18 feet), in a densely- 

 foliaged tree or high thicket. Eggs light greenish blue, sparingly spotted, 

 blotched and speckled at the large end with reddish brown. Size 1*07 to 1*15 

 inches by 076 to o - 82. 



510. Trochalopterum erythrocephalum (Vigors}, Skarpe, 



Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 360, Cinclosoma erythropterum, Vigors, P. Z. S. 

 1831, p. 171; Gould, Cent. Him. B. pi. 17. Crateropus erythrocephalus 

 (Hodgs.), Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 179. Garrulax erythrocephalus, Blyth, 

 J. A. S. B. xii. p. 951. Trochalopteron erythrocephalum, Jerd., B. Ind. ii. 

 p. 43, No. 415 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 258 ; id., Str. F. 1879, 

 p. 97 ; Scully, t. c, p. 296. The RED-HEADED LAUGHING THRUSH. 



