TIMELI/E. 129 



GROUP. TIMELLE. 



This group contains chiefly the Wren, grass, tree, ground and thrush Babblers, 

 which are considered to be the most typical of the Timeliina, and closely 

 affined by their general appearance to the Murcicapince. They vary much in 

 the form of their bill, some having it long, slender, and much bent downwards 

 at the tip, others more arched and notched ; others again broader and with the 

 tip but slightly bent downwards. The plumage of the group is generally of a 

 sombre tint; the head is either crested, or subcrested, and in some not crested. 

 The wing is either equal to, or longer than, the tail, and very seldom shorter 

 than it, which again is in most of the families graduated. Their habits, too, 

 are various. 



Gen. Timelia- Horsf. 



Bill strong, deep, much compressed and curved throughout, its length 

 being nearly that of the tarsus ; nostrils oval, apert ; rictal bristles well deve- 

 loped ; tail strongly graduated ; wing short and rounded ; 5th and 6th quills 

 generally the longest ; tarsi stout ; hind toe and claw large, both together 

 exceeding the length of the bill. 



597- Timelia pileata, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 151 ; id., 

 Zool. Res. Java, pi. 43, fg. I ; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 24; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 

 Ind. B. p. 246; id., Sir. F. iii. p. 118; Oates, Str. F. v. p. 152; Anders., 

 Yunnan Exp. p. 634 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p. 267 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. viii. p. 507 ; Oates, Br. Burm. i. p. 45. Timelia Jerdoni, Wald., 

 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (Ser. 4) x. p. 61 ; Bl. and Wald., B. Burm. 

 p. 114; Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 119. Timalia bengalensis, Godw.-Aust. t 

 J. A. S. B. xli. pi. ii. p. 143 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 95. The RED-CAPPED 

 GRASS-BABBLER. 



Forehead and supercilium white; lores, a narrow line separating 

 the chestnut of the crown, and feathers between the nostrils and 

 eye, black ; crown of the head chestnut ; upper plumage, including 

 the wing coverts, from olive to fulvous brown ; quills light brown, 

 externally fulvous brown ; tail the same, but faintly cross-barred under certain 

 lights ; chin, cheeks, throat and ear coverts pure white ; sides of the neck ashy 

 grey, also the sides of breast and nape ; all the feathers of these parts, also the 

 throat, with mesial black shaft streaks ; neck and upper breast white, the 

 feathers black shafted ; lower breast, abdomen, sides and under tail and wing 

 coverts fulvous brown, nearly ferruginous ; the sides a little darker ; axillaries 

 light fulvous brown ; under wing coverts pale tawny buff. Bill black ; irides 

 dark red ; eyelids dark bluish grey ; legs purplish brown. 



Length.-^ to 6-8 inches; wing 2-5 ; tail 2*85 to 3-2; culmen 07; 

 tarsus 0-95. 



VOL. II. 17 



