LIST OF BIRDS FOUND IN MYINGYAN DISTRICT. 185 



22. Crypsirhina cucnllata. — The Hooded Racket-tailed Magpie. 

 A not uncommon bird here, and as bamboo jungle is rare it is usually seen 

 in the sparse bush jungle all over the district. I have not yet found the nest, 

 but have seen young birds on the wing with their parents in May. Captain 

 Harington showed me nests and eggs taken in the Chindwin district. The egga 

 were of the ordinary Magpie type. The nests were peculiar. The real nests 

 was about the size of a breakfast cup, but placed in the centre of a loose col- 

 lection of twigs just like a parasitic mistletoe, kind of growth very common h'^re. 

 II. — Family OrateropodidcB. 

 73. Garrulax moniliger. — The Necklaced Laughing-Thrush. 

 A sure find in the more thickly wooded parts of the district and on the lower 

 slopes of Popa. The breeding season commences in April. The nest is 

 usually in a bamboo clump from 5 to 15 feet from the ground. The eggs vary 

 in the deepness of the colour considerably. 



104. Argya earlii. — The Striated Babbler. 

 Local name " ZayAve " for all of this genus. 



A good number to be seen round the Tanaungdaing or Talokmyo jheels, 

 where it breeds from May to July 



105. Argya caudata. — The Common Babbler. 

 Less common than A. earlii but met with in the same localities. 



106. Argya gularis. — The White-throated Babbler. 

 This is one of the most familiar birds of the locality. It lives in all sorts of 

 jungles, in gardens and hedgerows. It feeds on the ground. I have taken nests 

 which are made of fibrous creepers, roots and grass from low bushes, hedges, 

 verandah creepers and also from clefts of fairly large trees, but never more than 

 12 to 15 feet from the ground and usually much lower. The ordinary note is a 

 monotonous melancholy cheep. I have found it breeding in every month of the 

 year except January and February. The eggs, pale blue, are three or four, 

 seldom five in number and variable in size The average measurement of 23 

 eggs was •90"X'69", the largest being '9 V X'6&". The colours of the soft parts 

 omitted by Oates in Volume I of the Fauna — Birds, are iris bright yellow, 

 eyelid plumbeous, bill dark greenish brown, gape pale yellow, mouth pale 

 orange ; legs dirty pale green ; feet, toes and claws brownish green. I shot an 

 albino young bird on Popa once. 



116. Pomatorhinus schisticeps. — The Slaty-headed Scimitar Babbler. 

 A specimen shot on Popa had the head of the same colour as the back and 

 the rufous collar fairly distinct. The bird is common, but of course little seen. 

 134. Timelia pileata. — The Red-capped Babbler. 

 Is seldom seen but occurs in most of the damper parts of the district, more 

 especially in the creeks into which the river rises during the rains. Eggs in 

 May and June. 



139. Pyctorhis sinmsis.— The Yellow-eyed Babbler. 

 Common in hedges or rank bushy jungle. The eggs taken by me were taken 

 in June and July. 

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