POMATORHIXUS. 119 



The ear-coverts are occasionally streaked with white and the 

 edges of the breast and sides of neck are also streaked with the 

 same. The head and upper plumage vary a good deal in depth of 

 colour, the crown being occasionally a very dark brown or blackish, 

 but after examining a very large series I am of opinion that all the 

 Ceylon 'birds are of one species. 



This bird has the same general character of plumage as the 

 three preceding ones, but it differs in not having any chestnut on 

 the side of the neck, the sides of the neck as well as the edges of 

 the breast being of the same rufous-brown as the upper plumage. 



Distribution. Confined to Celon. 



its, tf-tf. Breeds from December to February, constructing a 

 nest made of leaves and grass on a bank in jungle. The eggs 

 measure -97 by '7. 



120. Pomatorhimis horsfieldii. The Southern Scimitar Babbler. 



Pomatorhinus horsfieldii, Sykes, P. Z. S. 3832, p. 89; Blyth, Cat. 

 p. 146 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 234 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 31 ; Hume, N. 

 $ E. p. 250 ; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 320 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 

 1878, p. 136 ; Hume, Cat. no. 404 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 376 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 415 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 178 ; 

 Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 84. 



Namala-pitta or Dasari-pitta, Tel. 



Coloration. The upper plumage dark olive-brown with a tinge of 

 rufous, the head darker and frequently mottled with black ; a white 

 supercilium from the nostril to the nape, edged with black above ; 

 chin, throat, breast, and the centre of the abdomen white ; lores, 

 under the eye, the ear-coverts, the sides of the neck, and a band 

 bordering the breast and abdomen black ; sides of the body, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts slaty brown ; tail and wings dark brown, 

 washed on the outer webs with the colour of the back. 



Iris dark maroon-brown ; legs and feet greenish plumbeous ; bill 

 yellow, dusky at base of the lower mandible (Butler) ; iris crimson 

 (Davison}. 



Length about 10 ; tail 4 ; wing 4 ; tarsus 1-3 ; bill from gape 1'2. 



Distribution. Travancore, the Palni hills, the Nilgiris, Coorg, and 

 the hill-ranges of the western coast as far as Mahableshwar, the 

 most northern locality from which I have seen a specimen. This 

 bird is found up to 8000 feet. It, however, occurs at lower levels, 

 being found at Belgaum and even at Malwan on the sea-coast. 



Blyth -records this species from Cuttack and Ball from Orissa 

 south of the Mahanadi, and Goomsur. Jerdon states that it is 

 found in the Eastern Ghats and in the heavy jungles of Central 

 India. 



Habits, <Sfc. Breeds from December to May, constructing a globular 

 nest of grass and leaves on the ground among the roots of bushes 

 or on the side of a bank, laying from three to five eggs which 

 measure 1-08 by '77. 



