Tit-Babblers 



661 



characters, we may well pass them by, to take up briefly a small group in which 

 the plumage is a little more attractive. Thus the Golden-headed Babbler 

 (Stachyris chrysaa) of India, a bird but five and a half inches long, has the 

 upper plumage and wings bright olive-yellow, the forehead, crown, and nape 

 bright golden yellow, the lores black, and the entire lower plumage bright yellow. 

 This species, in common with the others of its genus, frequents bushes and 

 low trees, among the leaves and flowers of which they seek their insect food. 



FIG. 193. Red-capped Babbler, Timelia pileata. 



Their oval nest is constructed usually of bamboo leaves and fixed between some 

 upright branchlets near the ground. This happens to be the only Indian genus 

 which lays unspotted white eggs. 



Tit -Babblers. Another group of small birds having the strong feet and 

 short, blunt bills of the Tits are appropriately known as Tit-Babblers, but other- 

 wise in structure and habits they agree with the other members of the subfamily. 

 Lack of space prevents considering these more fully, and also the many others 

 regarded, rightfully or not, as belonging to the Timeliida, though perhaps we 

 should not omit the curious little Fern-bird (Bowdleria punctatus) of New 

 Zealand. About seven inches in length, the general color above is a dusky 

 fulvous brown, while the lower parts are white spotted and streaked with blackish, 

 and there is a narrow white streak over the eye. The Fern-bird, "Utic," or 



