660 The Sparrow-like Birds 



having a dry stick carrying it to the same nest. In this way three or four snug 

 houses are built, one of them serving as a dormitory wherein the whole company 

 take their night's rest, save those busy incubating during the nesting season. 

 The formidable nest with hole inside possesses a cozy interior made up of dry 

 grass rootlets and fur from different animals. Its site is about ten feet from 

 the ground, either in a little tree or in the hanging branches of a eucalypt." 

 The size of this curious structure is about twelve inches in outside, and five or 

 six inches in inside, diameter, with entrance about two inches across. The eggs, 

 usually four or five or occasionally more, are buff, clouded with purplish or 

 brownish gray, and covered with curious interlacing hair lines of brown. In 

 coloration this species is dark or blackish brown, with the throat, center of the 

 breast, and a broad superciliary stripe of white ; its length is ten inches, of which 

 the finely pointed bill takes up one and three eighths inches and the tail four 

 and a half inches. 



The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler (Xiphorhamphus superciliaris] of India, 

 the only member of its genus, is remarkable chiefly for its extremely slender, 

 much-curved bill, which is nearly two and one half inches long, the total length 

 of the bird being only nine inches. It constructs its large, globular nest of 

 leaves and grass on the ground or in dense bushes, and lays white eggs. 



Typical Babblers. The remaining forms that we shall have space to mention 

 belong mainly to what are presumed to be the typical members of the family, 

 namely, the subfamily TimeliincE. They are in general much smaller birds 

 than those already mentioned, and, according to Mr. Gates, agree in being solitary 

 in their habits, or rather less gregarious, though some of them are said to go 

 about in small flocks, but this is by no means a general or usual character among 

 them. They are above all things skulkers, frequenting the ground or under- 

 growth, and being seldom found many feet above the ground. They are not 

 remarkably noisy, and they simply evade observation to the best of their power. 

 All of the members of the group, or at least the Indian representatives so far 

 as known, appear to lay spotted eggs. They have the same strong legs and feet 

 and short, rounded wings of the Laughing Thrushes and their allies, but the 

 head is never fully crested; the sexes are invariably alike in coloration, the 

 principal hue being some shade of brown, often relieved with slight dashes of 

 white, yellow, or black. 



Red -capped Babbler. The genus Timelia, w r hich is the basis of the group 

 name, is a small one embracing only two or three species, the best-known being 

 the Red-capped Babbler (T. pileata) of the plains and lower hills of India, Siam, 

 and Cochin China, whence it extends down the Malay Peninsula to Java. It 

 is between six and seven inches long and has the upper plumage olive-brown 

 with a cap of deep rufous, and the forehead with an eye stripe of white, while 

 the throat and chin are white, and the breast white indistinctly lined with black. 

 It is a cheerful, active little bird, creeping about amongst grass near the ground 

 and deposits usually three eggs, which are white speckled with brown. 



Golden-headed Babbler. As most of the forms allied to the above species 

 are similar in appearance and habits, being separated mostly on minor technical 



