Pied and Scimitar Babblers 659 



species, are spread over the plains of India and Burma and thence westward 

 through Afghanistan, Persia, and Palestine, well into Africa. About the same 

 size at the last, they are mainly brown-plumaged birds, going about in small 

 flocks and keeping to the ground or near it, and are very noisy when disturbed. 

 They build similar, cup-shaped nests, generally placing them in high grass, and 

 lay unspotted blue eggs. The Common Babbler (A. caudata) is found in small 

 flocks in every portion of India proper, frequenting all sorts of country, includ- 

 ing gardens, and appears to breed throughout the greater part of the year. 

 About nine inches long, it has the whole upper plumage brown tinged with 

 fulvous, each feather with a dark brown shaft streak, the tail olive-brown, cross- 

 rayed, while the chin and throat are fulvous and the lower parts paler with 

 faint striations on the breast and sides; the bill is brown with a yellow base, 

 and the iris, legs, and feet are yellow. 



Pied Babbler. Another even larger genus of Babblers is Crateropus, inhabit- 

 ing the whole of Africa below the Sahara as well as the Indian peninsula and 

 Ceylon, and differing from the last chiefly in possessing a shorter tail and stouter 

 bill. The Pied Babbler (C. bicolor) of the interior of Africa is a striking bird, 

 being white throughout with the exception of the wings, tail, bill, and legs, which 

 are black. According to Mr. Ayres, they go in flocks from tree to tree or bush 

 to bush with feeble flight, following each other almost in single file. They are 

 found usually among low bushes on the dry plains, and when one commences 

 its peculiar sort of clucking note, it is followed by the others, the noise increasing 

 until it is almost deafening. They build a compact, deep, circular nest of twigs 

 and grasses in a low bush, laying usually three greenish blue eggs. 



Scimitar Babblers. Presumably belonging here is another considerable 

 group known as the Scimitar Babblers, from the long, very slender, and com- 

 pressed decurved bill, which is as long as, and frequently much longer than, 

 the head. They have much the same habits as the Laughing Thrushes, being 

 sociable birds, going about in the same noisy companies, though their notes are 

 rather more pleasant. They construct their nests on or very near the ground 

 and lay white unspotted eggs. The principal genus (Pomatorhinus] comprises 

 upward of thirty species and extends throughout the Himalayas and mountains 

 of China, Formosa, and Hainan, down the Malay Peninsula to Java, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo and even to New Guinea and Australia, from which latter country 

 we may select one for more extended mention. The Babbler, or Chatterer 

 (P. temporalis), as it is there called, is quite generally spread over the eastern 

 half of Australia, frequenting bushes and open forests, where it is often 

 to be seen on the ground, but on the slightest alarm takes to the trees. It is 

 gregarious and exceedingly noisy and garrulous, being constantly on the move. 

 Commencing with the branches nearest the ground it gradually ascends in a series 

 of hops to the very tops of the tree, whence with elevated tail it peers down and 

 continually utters its peculiar chattering cry. "These birds," says Mr. Lau, 

 "perform their business feeding, nest building, sleeping together. The 

 nest is a large, dome-shaped edifice, and with so many helping hands, or rather 

 bills, is constructed in a day or two ; I have myself observed every bird in a flock 



