GRAMMATOPTILA. j'j.J 



Head, nape and neck dull slaty brown ; lores, feathers round the eye and 

 ear-coverts black ; cheeks, chin and throat white, the foreneck ashy ; breast 

 ashy grey ; under surface of the body light reddish brown ; upper back dark 

 brownish rufous paler on the rump and upper tail coverts ; the wing coverts 

 like the back ; primary coverts and quills externally edged with dark brownish 

 rufous, the inner secondaries entirely so ; tail black, washed with reddish 

 brown at base ; auxiliaries and under wing-coverts like the back. Bill dusky, 

 yellow at base beneath; legs fleshy ; irides dull red. 



Length. 9-5 to n inches; wing 4 to 4-3; tail 4-1 104-4; tarsus 1-5 ; 

 culmen i'2. 



Hab. The Wynaad, Brahmagherry Hills and the Neilgherries in Southern 

 India. Jerdon says it associates in large flocks, and that he saw them and 

 procured specimens on the slopes of the Neilgherries, where Mr. Delessert 

 procured his specimen. 



Gen. StactOCichla. Sharpe. 



General characters as in Garrulax ; nostrils hidden by plumes ; rictal 

 bristles very strong and reaching beyond the nostrils ; the feet laid behind 

 reaches the tip of the tail. (Sharpe.) 



568. StactOCichla merulina (Blyth), Sharpe, Cat. B- Br. Mus. 

 vii. p. 449. Garrulax merulinus, Blyih, J. A. S. B. xx. p. 521 ; Jerd., Ibis, 

 1872, p. 303; Hume, Sir. F. 1875, p. 394; 1879, p. 96. The NAGA 

 LAUGHING-THRUSH. 



Above rufescent brown, the wing coverts a little duller, the quills rufescent 

 on their outer webs ; tail brown, the feathers margined with rufescent ; lores 

 dull ashy ; feathers in front of and below the eye, also on the forepart of the 

 cheeks, dusky blackish; ear coverts rufescent brown, separated from the 

 crown by an ill-defined streak of white ; throat, foreneck and chest yellowish- 

 buff, the feathers with broad triangular spots of black breast rufous buff, 

 paler on the abdomen ; sides of body rufous brown ; thighs and under tail 

 coverts rufescent ; under wing coverts like the breast. 



Length. 8'2 inches; wing 3*55 ; tail 3^5 ; tarsus 1*5 ; culmen I. (Sharpe.) 



Mr. Sharpe adds that the amount of spotting on the throat varies greatly 

 in this species, also the extent of the orange buff tinge on the foreneck. 

 Hab. Khasia and Naga Hills, extending into Munipur. 



Gen. Grammatoptila. Reich. 



Head with a large crest. Bill moderately long, stout, and notched ; it is 

 deeper at the nostrils than it is broad ; nostrils exposed, with a large 

 superior operculum ; rictal bristles few; wings short and rounded, the 5th 

 and 6th quills longest ; tarsus strong, longer than the bill ; feet stout. 



