290 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL, 



Eight females, February, May and June, — Length, 10*7 to 

 11-7 ; expanse, 14-7 to 15-1 ; wing, 4-5 to 5*1 ; tail, 5-0 to 5*7 j 

 tarsus, 1-6 to 1*7 ; bill from gape, 1'15 to 1*25 ; bill at front, 

 0-8 to 0-85 ; closed wings short of tail, 2-9 to 4-0. 



Bill horny black, brownish at the tip ; gape and orbital skiu 

 plumbeous ; irides bluish white ; feet pale leaden grey ; claws 

 pale horny. 



The White-throated Laughing Thrush is a permanent resi- 

 dent of the forest-clad hills round the valley of Nepal, at an 

 elevation of from 6,000 to nearly 9,000 feet. It frequents 

 dense bushes and small tree forest, feeding on the ground where 

 it turns up the dead leaves ; and it is gregarious, associating in 

 large flocks, except during the breeding season, when only- 

 pairs and solitary birds are met with. The chorus uttered 

 by a flock of these birds is more subdued and less harsh than 

 that of G. leucolopkus ; and when alarmed the birds steal away 

 in single file. It breeds in April and May, and by the middle 

 of June, the birds are found in flocks again ; a young bird seen 

 on the 19th June was about the size of a quail. With reference to 

 Jerdon^s description, I note that my specimens all have the 

 band on the forehead deep rusty, not fulvous ; and that the- 

 breast is a little paler than the back. 



415.— Trochalopterum ersrthrocephalum, Vig. 



Two males, Chitlang, December. — Length, 10' 1 ; expanse, 

 11'6 and 11*75; wing, 3'8 and 3'9 ; tail, 4"5 and 4*7; tarsus, 

 1-5 ; bill from gape, 1'14 and 1*15 ; bill at front, 0"75 and O'S; 

 closed wings short of tail, 3*3 and 3'55. 



Two females, Valley {May) and Chitlang [December). — Length. 

 9*5 and 9*9 ; expanse, 11 and 11*5 ; wing, 3*6 and 37 ; tail, 

 4*2 and 4*25 ; tarsus, 1*23 and 1*25 ; bill from gape, 1*05 ; bill 

 at front, 0*75 ; closed wings short of tail, 3*25 and 3*35. 



Bill horny black ; irides greyish brown j feet brown fleshy ; 

 claws brownish grey horny. 



These specimens are darker and more deeply coloured than 

 examples from the Himalayas further west, the grey on the 

 tertiaries especially being of a much darker shade ; the feathers 

 of the ear-coverts are very conspicuously margined with silvery, 

 thus recalling T. cJirysopterum. 



This species, although it does not occur in any considerable 

 numbers, is yet fairly common on the hills round the Nepal 

 Valley. In winter it is found in parties, along the foot of the 

 liills, where there is thick brush-wood ; and in the Chitlang 

 Valley it is common, in December, in similar localities. Oil 

 the 21st May I shot a bird of this species on the Sheopuri 

 Ridge, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. It moves about 



