

DUMETIA. 133 



narrow edging of whity brown ; feathers of the crown stiffened ; forehead 

 rufescent, with blackish shafts ; lores and eyelids whitish ; ear coverts oliva- 

 ceous ashy ; cheeks and under surface of body bright sienna buff ; throat, 

 centre of breast and abdomen white ; thighs more fulvous ; axillaries 

 sienna buff with white bases ; under wing coverts bright sienna buff ; irides 

 greenish white or white ; upper mandible dusky or pinkish brown with fleshy 

 margins ; lower mandible fleshy, the tip dusky ; legs and feet reddish dusky. 



Length. 57 to 5-9 inches ; wing 2*15 ; tail 2-45 ; tarsus O'8 ; culmen o'6. 



fjab. The peninsula of India, ranging from Travancore along the West 

 Coast as high as Khandeish, and occurring again on Mount Abu. 



In Ceylon it is said to be found all over the low country in all parts of the 

 island. It affects bushy jungle, ravines, thick hedge-rows, &c., and is 

 usually found in small parties skulking along one after the other, under and 

 through from bush to bush, not unlike species of Malacocercus. It feeds on 

 small insects. Breeds during June. Hume in his Nests and Eggs has an 

 account of its nesting from Miss Cockburn of Kotagherry. The nest was 

 constructed on a coffee-tree and contained three eggs, which were white and 

 profusely covered with reddish spots of all sizes. The nest was small and 

 nearly globular, and constructed of broad flaggy grass, without any lining or 

 admixture of other material. In shape, Mr. Hume says, the eggs are mode- 

 rately elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and smooth, and has, in some, 

 a rather bright gloss. In length the eggs vary from 07 to 075 inches and in 

 breadth from 0-5 to 0-53. 



602. Dumetia hyperythra (Franldin*), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. 



Soc. p. 140 ; Jcrd., B. Ind. ii. p. 26, No. 397 ; Gould. B. Asia. pt. 12 ; Blanf.* 

 J. A. S. B. xi. p. 273 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 246 ; Ball, Str. F. 

 1874, p. 409; Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 96; Butler, Str. F. 1880, p. 399; 

 id., Cat. B. S. B. Pres. p. 42; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 515. 

 Timelia hyperythra, Franklin, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 118. Pellorneum hypery- 

 thrum, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxi. p. 357. The RUFOUS-BELLIED BABBLER. 



Crown of the head and upper back ashy olive brown, the forepart of crown 

 ferruginous, the feathers with stiff shafts and blackish shaft streaks ; the 

 lower back and rump rather fulvescent, the mantle with dusky brown shaft 

 streaks ; wing coverts like the back ; the greater series and quills margined 

 on their outer webs with fulvescent brown ; upper tail coverts and tail ashy 

 brown, faintly cross-barred under certain lights ; lores and feathers round 

 the eye whitish ; sides of face, ear coverts and under surface of the body 

 sienna buff ; the cheeks and throat somewhat rufescent and with paler shaft 

 lines ; under wing coverts and axillaries like the breast. Bill horny ; legs 

 fleshy yellow ; irides pale yellowish-brown. 



Length. S'4 to 5'8 inches j wing 2-2 j tail 2-4 ; tarsus 0*8 ; culmen 0^55. 



