PELLORNEUM. 141 



Legs and feet fleshy creamy-white ; upper mandible brown ; 

 lower mandible greenish-horny, yellow at base; iris dull hazel 

 (Hume). 



Length about 6'5 ; tail 2'6 ; wing 2*7 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape -8. 



Distribution. The lower hills of Nepal and Sikhim ; the Bhutan 

 and Buxa doars ; Dibrugarh district, Assam ; Khasi, Garo, and 

 N. Cachar hills ; Manipur. In the British Museum there is a 

 specimen labelled ' Gurvvhal,' but this locality I think requires 

 confirmation. 



Habits, Sfc. Breeds from April to l uly, constructing a loose domed 

 nest of moss, leaves, and fibres on the ground. The eggs, three in 

 number, are white speckled with chocolate or purplish brown and 

 measure *87 by '67. 



143. Pellorneum minus. Sharpens Spotted Babbler. 



Pellorneum minor, Hume, S. F. i, p. 298 (1873) ; iii, p. 120. 

 Pellorneum intermedium, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 519, pi. xiii, 



fig. 1 (1883) ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 67; Salvador*, Ann. Mus. Civ. 



Gen. (2) iv, p. 597. 



Coloration. Resembles P. mandellii. Differs in having a more 

 slender bill ; the black streaks on the forehead more sparse ; the 

 eyebrow more distinct, with only one or two black specks on it just 

 in front of the eye ; the outer webs of the feathers of the hind 

 neck rufous-brown, not blackish ; the streaks on the breast nar- 

 rower and paler. 



Legs fleshy yellow ; bill dusky, yellowish at the base below 

 (Hume}. 



Length about 6-5 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 2'6 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape -75. 



Hume first named this species from a specimen sent to him by 

 Feilden from Thayetmyo. His type is in the British Museum, 

 and he correctly described it as being like P. mandellii in having 

 the sides of the head behind the ear-coverts and nape olive-brown, 

 margined more or less broadly on one w r eb with rufescent or buffy- 

 white. He, however, afterwards allowed himself to be persuaded 

 that his bird was nothing but P. subochraceum, a totally different 

 type of Pellorneum with no white-edged feathers behind the nape. 

 Sharpe, in the absence of Hume's type, very rightly gave a name 

 to the Cachar bird, which is identical with the Thayetmyo one. 

 Hume's name, however, has priority by ten years, and I am 

 glad to be able to reinstate it. 



Distribution. Cachar ; Tipperah ; Bhamo ; Thayetmyo. Pro- 

 bably widely distributed. 



144. Pellorneum ruficeps. The Spotted Babbler. 



Pellorneum ruficeps, Swains. Faun. Bor.-Am., Birds, p. 487 (1831) 

 Blyth, Cat. p. 145; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 224; Jerd. B. I. ii, 



