ARGYA. 107 



Coloration. Whole upper plumage brown tinged with fulvous, 

 each feather with a dark brown shaft-streak ; wing- and tail- 

 coverts with only the shaft dark ; quills brown, lighter on the 

 outer webs ; tail olive-brown, cross-rayed, and the shafts very dark ; 

 chin ajid throat fulvous white ; lores brown ; ear-coverts rufescent; 

 lower plumage pale fulvous, albescent on the abdomen, and the 

 sides of the breast faintly striated. 



Bill light brown, yellow at base below; legs and feet yellow ; 

 claws fleshy brown ; iris brown or yellow (Bingliam); iris red- 

 brown (Jerdo)i). 



Length about 9; tail 4*7; wing 3*2; tarsus 1*1; bill from 

 gape 1. 



With the large series of these birds now available in the British 

 Museum it is impossible to separate the bird into three races, and 

 it will be seen from Hume's Catalogue that this gentleman no 

 longer thinks it possible to do so. 



Distribution. Every portion of India proper, from Sind to Bengal 

 and from the foot of the Himalayas to the extreme south of the 

 peninsula as far at least as the base of the Palni hills. This bird 

 also occurs in the Laccadives and in Ramesvaram Island. In the 

 north of India I have been able to trace it no further east than 

 Behar, but it is probably found as far as the longitude of Calcutta. 

 Blyth records it from. Arakan and Thayetmyo, but it is probable 

 that he did so by some mistake. 



To the west it extends into Persia. 



Habits, fyc. This Babbler is not addicted to grass jungle, but is 

 found in all sorts of country, even in gardens. It associates in small 

 flocks and has the habits of A. earlii. It breeds throughout the 

 greater part of the year, constructing its nest in bushes and laying 

 three eggs, which measure '82 by '64. 



106. Argya gularis. The White-throated BabUer. 



Chatorhea gularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 478 (1855) ; Jerd. Ibis, 

 1862, p. 19 ; Blanf. Ibis, 1870, p. 466 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 124; 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 639, pi. xlviii; Hume, Cat. 

 no. 439 bis ; Gates, S. F. x, p. 209. 



Crateropus gularis (Blyth), Oates, B. B. \, p. 31. 



Argya gularis (Blyth), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 396. 



Coloration. Forehead and a line on either side as far as the eye 

 grey, each feather with a black streak ; crown, hind neck, back, 

 and scapulars ruddy brown, the feathers with dark brown shaft- 

 stripes ; rump and upper tail-coverts olive-brown, the latter with 

 faint stripes ; tail olive-brown, cross-rayed ; exposed parts of wings 

 olive-brown, some of the greater coverts indistinctly dark-shafted ; 

 ear-coverts and sides of the neck ruddy brown ; lores black ; chin, 

 throat, cheeks, and upper breast white ; remainder of lower plumage 

 ferruginous. 



I omitted to note the colour of the soft parts of this bird when 

 in Burma and no one else appears to have recorded them. 



