SIMALIN.E. 179 



Malacocereus terricolor, Hodgson. 



432. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 59 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 472 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology 

 of Sind, p, 133 ; Svvinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 67. 



THE BENGAL BABBLER. 

 Sat bhai, Hin. 



Length, 9 to 10 ; extent, 13 ; wing, 412 ; tail, 4'5 ; tarsus, 

 :1 '5 ; bill at front, 075. 



Bill horny-brown ; irides pale yellow ; legs dingy-yellow. 



Above brownish-ashy, paler and somewhat cinereous on the 

 head and neck, browner on the back, where the feathers are 

 faintly pale shafted ; quills brown, with outer webs paler, and 

 narrowly bordered with ashy ; tail reddish-brown, faintly barred, 

 and the outer feathers tipped with pale whity-brown ; beneath 

 pale ashy-brown on the throat and breast, the feathers very faintly 

 edged and shafted lighter ; abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts, 

 pale fulvescent. 



With the exception of the Deccan, the Bengal Babbler is 

 common throughout our limits ; it is a permanent resident and 

 breeds from March to July. 



The nests are often found in gardens, in fruit trees, vineries, 

 thick hedges, and in fact almost anywhere ; they are of a deep 

 cup-shape, generally loosely constructed, but occasionally they 

 are more neatly made ; they are composed of grass stems and 

 roots. 



The eggs, three or four in number, are variable both in shape 

 and color, but are typically broad oval in shape and deep blue 

 in color. 



They average one inch in length by about 078 in breadth. 



They are in general highly glossy. 



Malacocereus griseus, Latham, 



433. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 60 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 400. 



THE WHITE-HEADED BABBLER. 



Length, 9 ; wing, 4 ; tail, 4 ; tarsus, T25 ; bill at front, 0'55. 



Bill yellowish ; irides yellowish- white ; legs fleshy-yellow. 



Head, lores and nape, fulvescent or dirty-whitish ; plumage 

 above darker brown than the last, the feathers with pale 

 shafts ; quills not barred ; tail brown, very faintly barred, and 

 the outer feathers tipped pale ; beneath the chin and throat 

 are mixed brown and ashy, conspicuously darker than the 

 neighbouring parts, each feather being ashy at the base, 

 and with a dark band, tipped paler ; as the pale tip gets worn 

 away, the dark tinge becomes more apparent ; from the breast 

 the rest of the lower parts are pale fulvescent, inclining to 

 rufescent. 



