ARGYARHOPOPHILUS 145 



pairs or small parties and runs from bush to bush. Its food 

 consists of insects, seeds, and small berries. Its note is very 

 peculiar ckuf-chur-r-r, wkeer wkcer wheer. Its nest is a loose 

 structure of sticks, fine roots, and straws lined with wool and 

 feathers and is placed in a bush near the ground, and the eggs 

 3 or 4 in number are clear deep greenish blue. 



205. INDIAN BUSH-BABBLER. 

 ARGYA CAUDATA. 



Argya caudata (Dumeril), Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. x. p. 219 (1826)-; 

 (Hume and Henderson) Lahore to Yark., p. 197, pi. ix. ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mns. vii p. 393 ; (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, i. p. 106 ; 

 A. huttoni (Blyth), J. As. Soc. Beng. xvi. p. 476 (1847) ; Blanf. E. 

 Pers. ii. p. 203, pi. xiii. fig. 1 : Sharpe, t. c. p. 394 ; A. eclipes (Hume), 

 S. Feath. v. p. 337 ; Sharpe, t. c. p. 394. 



Durnri, Chilchil, Peng, Hindu ; Huni, Tarn. 



$ ad. (India). Upper parts brown with a fulvous tinge streaked with 

 dark brown ; wings brown, the quills lighter on the outer web, the shafts 

 dark ; tail olivaceous brown darker barred, the shafts of the feathers 

 dark ; lores brown ; ear-coverts rufescent ; under parts pale fulvous, the 

 chin, throat and middle of abdomen isabelline ; sides of the breast slightly 

 striated ; bill light brown, yellow below at the base ; legs yellow ; iris 

 brown. Culmen 0*7, wing 3'2, tail 47, tarsus I'l inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Eastern and Southern Persia, Afghanistan, the whole of 

 India proper, and the Laccadive and Ramesoaram Islands. 



Frequents bush-covered localities, gardens, &c,and is generally 

 found in small flocks and is often to be seen on the ground where 

 it hops about in search of insects which form its chief food. Its 

 flight is weak and peculiar, and seldom extended further than 

 from bush to bush. It breeds late in March or early in April 

 and places its nest in a tuft of grass or in a small bush or tree from 

 three to four feet above the ground. The nest is deep cup-shaped 

 neatly constructed of grass, fine roots, &c, and lined with the 

 same materials or horsehair, and the eggs 3 or 4 in number are 

 clear blue with a faint greenish tinge, unspotted, and in size 

 average about 0.82 by 0.64. 



EHOPOPHILTIS, Gigl. and Salvadori, 1870. 



206. CHINESE BABBLER. 

 RHOPOPHILUS PEKINENSIS. 



Rhopophilus peJcinensis (Swinhoe), Ibis, 1 868, p. 62 ; Gould, B. of Asia, 

 iv. pi. 3 ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 260, pi. 19 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. vii. p. 117 ; Pleske, Prjevalsky's Reisen, Vogel, ii. p. 128. 



L 



