DRYMOCATAPIIUS. 147 



Bill dusky above, pale flesh-colour beneath ; mouth yellow ; iris 

 reddish brown ; eyelids greenish flesh-colour ; legs and claws fleshy 

 white. 



Length about 6 ; tail 2 ; wing 2*4 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape *8. 



Distribution. There are undoub<ed specimens of this species in 

 the Hume Collection from the Khasi hills and from Manipur. 

 Godwin-Austen obtained it in the Garo hills. 



It has been found in Karennee ; on the eastern slopes of the 

 Pegu hills ; the central and southern portions of Tenasserim, and 

 the Thoungyeen valley, in all of which tracts it appears to be 

 fairly common. 



J/abits, $c. This species is a quiet little bird found in all sorts of 

 jungle, creeping about bushes and on the ground singly or in pairs. 

 Bingham found the nest in March, a domed structure of bamboo- 

 leaves and roots placed in a cane-bush about one foot above the 

 ground. It contained three eggs, white dotted with pink. One 

 egg measured *67 by '51. 



152. Drymocataphus assamensis. Austen's Babbler. 



Turdinus garoensis, Godwin- Austen, J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. ii, p. 75 



(1876), nee xliii, pt. ii, p. 160. 

 Drymocataphus assainensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 557 (1883). 



Coloration. Upper plumage rufescent olive-brown, the forehead 

 with fulvous shaft-stripes, the crown and mantle with conspicuous 

 pale shafts ; the outer webs of the primaries brighter rufous ; sides 

 of the head fulvous, mottled with brown ; sides of the neck and 

 lower plumage fulvous, albescent on the centre of the abdomen, 

 and tinged with olivaceous on the sides of the breast and abdomen. 



Iris red-brown; legs very pale fleshy (Godw.-Aust.}. 



Length about 6 ; tail 2-1; wing 2-6; tarsus 1-15; bill from 

 gape -7. 



This species differs from D. ticlcelli in having the upper plumage 

 rufescent olive-brown, and in having a longer tarsus. 



The bird obtained by God win- Austen in the Garo hills, and de- 

 scribed by him as T. garoensis in 1874, proved, according to Sharpe, 

 who examined it, to be merely a specimen of D. tickelli. This 

 specimen, I regret to say, has been lost or mislaid. A second bird 

 procured by Godwin- Austen in the Dikrang valley in Assam, and 

 referred by him to the same T. garoensis, proved to be the present 

 species, but it cannot bear Godwin-Austen's name. Sharpe has 

 rightly renamed it. 



Distribution. I have examined undoubted specimens of this species 

 from the Khasi hills, and from Dhollah and Sadiya in Assam. 

 Godwin-Austen obtained it in the Dikrang valley, Assam. 



Habits, c. Godwin-Austen says : "Proceeding through the 

 dense underwood in the Dikrang valley, I caught sight of this bird 

 on the narrow path above two yards from my feet, and at the first 

 glance took it to be a small rodent. It was most fearless and made 

 no attempt to fly off." 



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