ALCIPPE. 1G9 



Length. 6*2 inches; wing 27; tail 2'8 ; tarsus 0-85; ciilmen o'6. The 

 female is smaller. 



Length. 5-5 inches ; wing 2-5 ; tail 2-45. 



Hab. The evergreen forests on the eastern spurs of the Pegu hills and the 

 low hills throughout Tenassefim, where Davison collected specimens. Cap- 

 tain Wardlaw-Ramsay procured it in Karennee, and Captain Bingham in the 

 Thoungyeen Valley. It also occurs in Arrakan, Bhamo, and the Naga hills. 

 Gates says he found the species affecting brushwood on the sides of the nullahs 

 deep down in the valleys of the Pegu hills. 



652. Alcippe atriceps (Jerd^, Biyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. 

 p. 148, No. 390; Bp. Consp. i. p. 260; Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 19; Hume, Sir. F. 

 ^79, p. 95; Butler, Sir. F. 1880, p. 399; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. 

 p. 625. Brachypteryx atriceps, Jord., Madr. Joufn. x. p. 250. The BLACK- 

 HEADED QUAKER-THRUSH, 



Above, including the back and median wing coverts, dark sandy or olive 

 brown ; the greater coverts sepia brown edged externally with fulvous brown ; 

 tail brownish olive> very indistinctly rayed across under certain lights ; head, 

 nape, and feathers round the eye and ear coverts black ; lores, cheeks and 

 entire under surface of the body white ; the breast streaked with ashy and the 

 flanks washed with fulvous ; under tail coverts and thighs fulvous brown ; 

 axillaries and under wing coverts pale tawny buff ; bill horny brown ; legs 

 plumbeous ; iris pale orange or buff. 



Length.-^ 47 to 5*5 inches; wing 2-15 to 2 25 ; tail 1*9 to 2; tarsus 0*9; 

 culmen 0*6. 



Hab. Southern India. It is found nearly throughout Coorg and Malabar, 

 also in North Canara, the Wynaad and the slopes of the Neilgherries, but 

 does not ascend as high as A. phaocephala. It is most abundant in the lower 

 forests, where it frequents, in small flocks, the thickest underwood. Jerdon 

 adds that it is continually hopping about the thick bushes with an incessant 

 loud twittering note. It lives on insects, as mantidse, gryllidae, &c. It breeds 

 on the Neilgherries during June and July, making its nest in weeds and grasSj 

 beside the bank of old walls or on the edge of a stream about 2 3 feet above 

 the water. The eggs, 2 3 in number, are moderately broad ovals, slightly 

 compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is satiny ; the ground colour 

 white, marked with brownish or purplish red in the shape of very tiny speckles. 

 Size c'75 x 0*55. 



653. Alcippe Bourdilloni flume, Str* F. 1876, p. 185 ; id. y 



Sir. F. 1878, vol. ii. p. 36; id., Str. F. 1879, P- 95 5 Bourdillon, Sir. F. 

 1880, p. 300; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br, Mus. vii. p. 625. BOURDILLON'S QUAKER- 

 THRUSH. 



VOL II. 22 



