138 CEATEllOPODIDJE. 



the feathers on the eyelids, chin, throat, cheeks, and breast pure 

 white ; abdomen, vent, flanks, and under tail-coverts pale fulvous ; 

 tail very faintly cross-rayed. 



Iris pale orange-yellow ; eyelids deep orange ; bill black, yellow- 

 ish at the nostrils ; legs pale orange-yellow ; claws pinkish ; mouth 

 yellow in winter, black in summer. 



Length about 7 ; tail 3-4 ; wing 2-5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape -6. 



Distribution. Every portion of the Empire, in the plains and 

 lower hills, except Ceylon and Tenasserim south of Moulmein, 

 but extending into Siam. This bird appears to be found in the hills 

 up to an elevation of 5000 feet. 



Habits, fyc. Frequents every description of jungle except thick 

 forest, but is more abundant perhaps in heavy grass than elsewhere. 

 This bird is generally seen singly or in pairs, creeping about the 

 vegetation near the ground and occasionally mounting to the top of a 

 stem of grass or a branch to look round and utter its note. It breeds 

 from May to September, constructing a deep cup-shaped nest of 

 blades of grass and fibrous bark, which is attached to a few stems 

 of grass or placed in a branch of a low tree. The eggs, three or 

 four in number, are pinkish white blotched with red, and measure 

 73 by -59. 



140. PyctorMs nasalis. The Ceylon Yellow-eyed Babbler. 



Pyctorhis nasalis, Legge,A. M. N. H. (5) iii, p. 169 (1879); id. 

 Birds Ceyl. p. 512, pi. xxiv ; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 73 ; id. Cat. no. 

 385 bis ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 512 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 

 2nded. i, p. 98. 



Coloration. Resembles P. sinensis. Differs in having the nostrils 

 black like the bill (instead of yellow) ; in having more white on 

 the side of the head ; and in having the tertiaries and the outer 

 webs of the other quills rufous like the back and not cinnamon- 

 coloured. 



Iris golden yellow ; eyelid chrome-yellow ; loral skin, which is 

 perceptible through the feathers, greenish yellow ; bill and nostril 

 black ; legs and feet dull yellow ; extremities of toes dusky ; claws 

 dusky horn-colour (Legge). 



Of the same size as P. sinensis. 



This species is not a very marked one ; but the points of differ- 

 ence indicated above seem always to hold good in specimens from 

 Ceylon. In dry skins, however, the yellow colour of the nostrils is 

 not always apparent, and the identification of the species then rests 

 almost entirely on the colour of the exposed parts of the closed 

 wings. 



Distribution. Ceylon. 



Habits, fyo. Apparently the same as those of the preceding species. 

 Breeds from February to May. The eggs measure -78 by -58. 



