132 CEATEROPODID^;. 



134. Timelia pileata. The Red-capped Babbler. 



Timelia pileata, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 151 (1821) ; Blyth, 



Cat. p. 149 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 227 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 24 ; 



Hume, N. $ E. p. 246 ; id. 8. F. iii, p. 118 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 152 ; 



Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 634 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, 



p. 267 ; Gates, B. B. p. 44 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 507} Gates 



in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 90. 

 Timelia bengalensis, Godwin- Austen, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. ii, p. 143 



(1872) ; Gates, S. F. vii, p. 41 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 277 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 396 ; id. S. F. xi, p. 143. 

 Timelia jerdoni, Wald. A. M. N. H. (4), x, p. 61 (1872) ; Bl. $ 



Wald. Birds Burm. p. 114. 



The Red-capped Wren-Babbler, Jerd. 



Fig. 36. Head of T. pileata. 



Coloration. Forehead and a streak on each side over and past 

 the eye white ; lores black ; crown deep rufous ; ear-coverts white 

 in front, ashy behind ; upper plumage and exposed parts of wings 

 olive-brown, tinged with fulvous, the mantle suffused with ashy 

 and with blackish shafts ; tail dark brown, cross-rayed ; cheeks, 

 chin, and throat white ; breast white, with distinct narrow black 

 shaft-lines ; sides of neck deep grey, produced down the sides of 

 the breast; remainder of lower parts ferruginous, tinged with 

 olivaceous on the sides of the abdomen. 



Birds from the Himalayas, Assam, and Manipur have the lower 

 parts more olivaceous and less ferruginous than those from other 

 parts. 



Javan birds have a very narrow white forehead, but differ in no 

 other respect from Indian and Burmese specimens. 



Bill black ; iris dark red ; eyelids dark bluish grey ; mouth 

 black ; legs purpurescent-brown ; claws horn-colour. 



Length 7 ; tail 3'2 ; wing 2'5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape '75. 



Distribution. The plains and lower hills along the border of 

 Nepal, Sikhim, and Bhutan, extending up the Assam valley to 

 Sadiya. This bird is found over a considerable portion of Bengal. 

 Thence it occurs in all the countries to the east and southwards 

 throughout Burma as far as the central portion of Tenasserim. It 

 is found in Siam and Cochin China, and although not known to 

 occur in the Malay peninsula it reappears in Java. 



Habits, $c. This Babbler inhabits by preference extensive grass 

 plains, but it is also found, though in fewer numbers, in bush- 

 jungle and in the vicinity of villages. It is an active, bright bird, 



