180 SIMALIN-ffl. 



The White-headed Babbler is common at and near Belgaum, 

 where it is a permanent resident, breeding from April to July. 



Malacocercus malabaricus, Jerdon. 



434 Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 62 ; Butler, Deccan ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 400. 



THE JUNGLE BABBLER. 



Length, 9 ; wing, 4'1 ; tail, 4'5 ; tarsus, T2 ; bill at front, 075. 



Bill and gape dark yellow ; orbits yellow ; irides pale-yellow ; 

 legs dirty-yellow, with a fleshy tinge. 



Very like M. terricolor, but somewhat darker in color, with 

 broader and more distinct pale mesial streaks on the feathers 

 of the back, and especially of the breast ; the tertiaries are but 

 very obscurely striated, but the tail is distinctly so. 



The Jungle Babbler is rather irregular in its breeding habits, 

 nests having been taken from April to October ; it is generally 

 placed in the centre of a thorny bush. The eggs, three or four 

 in number, are similar to those of M. terricolor. 



They average 0'97 inches in length by about 077 in breadth. 



The occurrence of the Jungle Babbler within our limit is rather 

 doubtful. Jerdon implies that it occurs along the Malabar coast, 

 and Major Lloyd includes it in his list of Konkan species. 



Malacocercus somervillii, Sykes. 



435. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 63 ; Butler, Deccan ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 400. 



THE RUFOUS-TAILED BABBLER. 



Length, 9'5; wing, 4'25; tail, 4; tarsus, 1*13; bill at 

 front, 075. 



Bill horny-yellow ; irides pale-yellow ; legs dirty-yellow. 



Above ashy-brown, the feathers of the back barely lighter 

 shafted, passing into rufescent on the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts ; quills dark-brown on both webs ; tail rufous-brown, 

 obsoletely banded ; beneath, the chin and throat are mixed 

 dark-brown and ashy as in griseus ; the upper part of the breast 

 pale whity -brown, the feathers dark at their base ; the lower 

 breast, belly, vent, and under tail-coverts, rufescent. 



The Rufous-tailed Babbler is a common permanent resident 

 on the Sahyadri Range and the country adjacent. Mr. Hume 

 says it is confined to a belt of country about 60 miles 

 north and south of Bombay. In its breeding habits it resembles, 

 its congeners. 



Malacocercus malcolmi, Sykes. 



436. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 64 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 472 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 401 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 133 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 67. 



