TANTIIOCINCLA. TROCHALOPTERUM. 87 



Assamese birds (Shillong) have the loral patch, the greater part 

 of the ear-coverts, the chin, and the whole throat rufous. 



The reader is referred for further information on this point to 

 Hume's remarks on the subject (loc. cit.). 



Distribution. The Himalayas from the Hazara country to Assam 

 as far as the Daphla hills ; the Khasi and Garo hills. In the N.W. 

 this bird appears to extend also to the vale of Kashmir. It is 

 found chiefly from 5000 to 8000 feet of elevation. 



J/abits, $c. Breeds from May to July and probably earlier, con- 

 structing a nest of creeper-tendrils lined with black roots in low 

 branches of trees, and laying three pure white eggs which measure 

 1-06 by -77. 



81. lanthocincla ansteni. The Cachar Laughing-Thrush. 



Trochalopteron austeni, Jerd., Godiv.-Aust. J. A. 8. B. xxxix, pt. ii, 

 p. 105 (1870) ; xliii, pt. ii, p. 180; Jerd. Ibis, 1872, p. 304 ; Hume, 

 S. F. iii, p. 414 ; id. Cat. no. 417 bis ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, 

 p. 3G9 j Hume, S. F. xi, p. 165. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, hind neck, sides of the neck, 

 and the whole back reddish brown, with pale shafts ; rump paler, 

 without pale shafts ; upper tail-coverts and the middle pair of 

 tail-feathers rufous ; remainder of the tail black, tipped with M hite, 

 the basal portions of the outer webs suffused with rufous ; wing- 

 coverts and tertiaries reddish-brown, the longer coverts and the 

 tertiaries tipped with white and with a subterminal dusky mark ; 

 outer webs of the earlier primaries grey, those of the other quills 

 reddish brown ; lores dusky ; ear-coverts dark rufous-brown, with 

 pale shafts; chin, throat, and breast rufous-brown, indistinctly 

 barred with dusky and whitish; remainder of lower plumage 

 rufous-brown, with broad and distinct white bars preceded by a 

 dusky line ; under tail-coverts narrowly tipped with white. 



In the dry skin the bill is black and the legs brown. 



Length about 10; tail 4*8; wing 4; tarsus 1*45; bill from 

 gape 1'05. 



Distribution. A very rare bird, which has hitherto been obtained 

 only by Godwin-Austen in the hill-ranges of Assam. He obtained 

 it on the first occasion on Hengdan Peak, Khasi hills, at the head 

 of the Jhiri river at 7000 feet ; on the second occasion on the 

 Kopamedza peak, Naga hills, at the same altitude. Hume is pretty 

 certain that he caught a glimpse of it in Manipur above Aimole. 



Habits, $c. Godwin- Austen observes that these birds were 

 generally in pairs, uttering a harsh, croaking call and answering 

 each other from time to time. 



Genus TROCHALOPTERUM, Hodgs., 1843. 



The genus Trochalopterum merely differs from the three preceding 

 genera in having the base of the bill quite free from all bristles and 

 hairs, the nostrils and their membrane being free and exposed. 



