162 CRATEEOPODID^E. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Crown black streaked with white $. nigriceps, p. 162. 



b. Crown golden yellow streaked with black. 



a'. Back bright olive-yellow 8. chryscea, p. 163. 



b'. Back slaty green S. assimilis, p. 163. 



169. StP-Chyrhis nigriceps. The Slack-throated Babbler. 



Stachyris nigriceps, Hodys. Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiii, p. 378 (1844) ; 

 Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 83 (1844) ; id. P. Z. S. 1845, p. 22 ; 

 Blyth, Cat. p. 150 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 231 j Jerd. B. 1. ii, p. 21 ; 

 Hume, N. $ E. p. 242 ; id. S. F. iii, p. 117 j Gates, S. F. v, p. 252 ; 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 636 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, 

 p. 264 ; Hume, Cat. no. 391 ; Gates, S. F. x, p. 206; id. B. B. i, 

 p. 48 ; Sharpc, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 532 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 141 ; 

 Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 110. 



The Black-throated Wren-Babbler, Jerd. ; Sanyriam-pho, Lepch. 



Fig. 47. Head of 8. nigriceps. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, and nape black, the feathers edged 

 with white, giving a streaked appearance to those parts ; round the 

 eye white ; ear-coverts varying from orange to rufous-brown and 

 plain brown ; cheeks white ; chin grey ; throat sometimes entirely 

 black, sometimes black mottled with white ; whole upper plumage 

 rich olive-brown, the tail and exposed parts of wings rufous ; entire 

 lower plumage bright fulvous, tinged with olivaceous on the lower 

 abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts. 



The colour of the ear-coverts varies somewhat according to 

 locality. Birds from the Himalayas have them dark brown with 

 the posterior portion rufous ; those from Assam, the hill-tracts of 

 Bengal, and Upper Burma orange or rufous in some form or other ; 

 and Pegu and Tenasserim birds have them rufous but more or less 

 intermingled with brown. 



The black throat occurs chiefly among birds from Assam, the 

 bill-tracts of Bengal and Upper Burma. 



Hume is of opinion that the colour of the bill changes in the 

 breeding-season. He states that in the cold season (November to 

 February) the upper mandible is pale brown, the lower pale yel- 

 lowish horny. I can find no indication of this seasonal change in 

 the large series now in the British Museum, but perhaps it is not 

 apparent in dry skins. 



Upper mandible bluish black, lower pale bluish ; the anterior 

 half of the margins dusky ; eyelids bluish ; iris orange-brown ; legs 

 pale dusky green ; claws yellowish (April). 



