THE BUSH BABBLERS. 51 



it breeds as early as April. Its nest is much, the same as in Ceylon ; but the late Mr. A. Anderson 

 speaks of one which was ' entirely composed of green twigs of the Neern-tree on which it was built, 

 and the xmder surface was felted with fresh blossoms belonging to the same tree.' Mr. Hume gives 

 the average of sixty eggs as 0'89 inch in length by O65 inch in breadth." 



THE THIRD SUB-FAMILY OF THE TIMELIID.E. THE TRUE BABBLERS (Tiineliiiue). 



In this group of birds the short rounded wing, remarkable for its concavity, which makes this 

 organ fit close to the body, and so becoming admirably adapted to the bush-creeping habits of the 

 bird, reaches its fullest development in the family of Babbling Thrushes. The largest number of Babblers 

 is met with in the Malayan Peninsula an! the neighbouring islands, whence they extend in gradually 

 decreasing numbers towards the Moluccas and New Guinea in the south, and northwards throughout 

 the Burmese countries to Southern China and Formosa, and eastwards through the Indian Peninsula 

 to Ceylon. The distribution of these birds is indeed interesting in the highest degree, for there 

 can be little doubt that the genus Tcdare, which occurs in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, is 

 properly a member of this sub-family, and it is not until the genus Bernieria is met with in 

 Madagascar that any closely -allied generic form is known. Again, the genera Drymocataplius and 

 Trichostoma, which are considered to be two of the most characteristic forms of the Malayan Penin- 

 sula and islands, re-appear once more in the forests of West Africa, evincing another proof of the 

 affinity which exists between the forest belt which clothes the shores of this part of Africa and the 

 Indo- Malay an region. 



The habits of the Tiineliime are for the most part similar, the birds inhabiting the bush and 

 thick underwood, feeding on insects, and living in small flocks, which are constantly on the move,. 

 and uttering during their flight a continued chattering or piping note. 



THE BUSH BABBLERS. 



These are inhabitants of the Old World, and form a very conspicuous group of Thrush-like birds, 

 widely distributed over Africa, and extending over India and the Burmese countries into China. 

 Some of them are of moderately large size, exceeding the dimensions of the Common Thrush, and they 

 are very similar in habits, living in the bushes, and hopping vigorously from bough to -bough, a mode 

 of life for which they are well fitted by their strong stout legs. 



The habits of the Palestine Bush Babbler are thus described by Canon Tristram : " It is strictly 

 confined to the larger oases round the Dead Sea, and is well known to European residents as the 

 ' Hopping Thrush ' of Jericho, and is evidently the 'Mocking-bird' of Lynch 's 'Narrative.' It ia 

 abundant in the rich oases of Ain Sultan and Ain Duk, at the north-west of the Dead Sea, in the 

 sultry comer at the north-east, under the hills of Moab (the ancient plain of Shittim), and at the 

 south-east end, in the luxuriant tangles of the Safich. A few inhabit the shrubs of Engedi, and we 

 found it once or twice at the Wady Zuweirah, at the south-west of the Dead Sea. Nowhere else 

 did it come under our observation, and thus we find a distinct and most characteristic species limited 

 to an area of forty miles by twelve, and not occupying more than ten square miles in the whole of 

 that area, so far as our present knowledge extends. They are most sociable and noisy birds, always 

 in small bands, though not in large flocks, hopping along the ground in a long line, with jerking tail, 

 and then, one after another, running up a bush, where they maintain a noisy conversation till the 

 stranger's approach, when they drop down in single file and mm along the ground, to repeat the 

 same proceedings in the next tree. The nest is a large, clumsy structure, placed always in the 

 centre of a thorn-tree, and requiring some little labour with the hatchet to clear a way to it. It 

 is composed entirely of strips of bark loosely woven together, and without any other lining. One in 

 my collection looks much like a very large nest of Savi's Warbler, from this peculiarity of the employ- 

 ment of but a single material. The eggs are four to six in number, dark rich green smaller than 

 those of the Common Thrush, and a little larger than the eggs of Craleropus fulvus. The parent 

 birds continue their attention to the young for some time after they leave the nest ; and I have been 

 amused in watching the manner in which the old bird will remain at the top of a bxish, scolding and 

 screaming at the intruder till all her brood have dropped down one after another, and are running 



