154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIL 



No. XI.— THE NILGIRI BABBLER {ALCIPPJE PK^OCEPHALA) 

 IN THE BASTAR STATE, CENTRAL PROVINCES. 



In the Fauna of British India, Birds, Vol. I, p. 158, Gates records the dis- 

 tribution of this bird from Khandala to Travancore along the Western Coast 

 of India, alsp at Pachmarhi in the Central Provinces ; further he states that 

 there is an Alcippe in the British Museum from Pareshnath Hill which he is 

 inclined to identify with the present species. It is interesting therefore to 

 note that on January 22nd of this year I secured a specimen of this bird at 

 Parasgaon in the Bastar State. 



E. A. D'ABREU, f.z.s. 

 The Museum, Nagpuk, ^th March 1914. 



No. XII.— THE YELLOW-BREASTED BABBLER {MIXORNIS 



RUBRIC APILLUS) IN THE BASTAR STATE, CENTRAL 



PROVINCES. 



Three specimens of this bird were obtained in January of this year on a 

 collecting trip in the Bastar State at Parasgaon. 



I do not think this species has ever been recorded in the Central Pro- 

 vinces or further west, on the plains, than Chota Nagpur, so the record is 

 interesting. 



E. A. D'ABREU, f.z.s. 

 The Museum, Nagpur, 9ith March 1914. 



No. XIII.— AN ABNORMALLY COLOURED SHAMA {KITTOCINCLA 



MACRURA). 



On the 14th March I went to Tagundaing, about 1,000 feet elevation in 

 the South Shan foot-hills on the Thazi-Kalaw road. There in the jungle, 

 off the main road, I shot a bird which I did not recognise and being unable 

 to skin it, as I had hoped to do, I wrote a careful description of it, which 

 I append. I think it is of sufficient interest for the journal owing to its 

 resemblance to the Andaman bird and I should like to hear if any other 

 members have met with similar variations in this species. I have classified 

 it as K. macrura for the obvious geographical reason, but it is certainly 

 nearer alUventris. I should mention that the bird was a female with 

 ovaries in a state of development suggesting that it would shortly have 

 been laying. 



Length 7"6 inches, tail 4, wing 3'5, tarsus "9, bill from gape "OS. Iris 

 dark brown. Eyelids plumbeous. Bill black, base of lower mandible horny 

 brown. Mouth fleshy. Legs and feet fleshy. Claws very pale horn. 

 Head all round, back, scapiilars and wing coverts sooty brown. Rump 

 and upper tail coverts white. Tail: middle two pairs blackish ; next pair 

 same with a narrow tip to inner web and a broad (one inch) tip to outer 

 web white ; next pair same but one inch white on inner and one and a half 

 inches on outer web ; next two pairs same but an equal or almost equal 

 amount of white on tips of both webs. Quills dark brown. Chin tinged 

 ashy brown tinged with ashy. Throat and upper breast sooty brown. Lower 

 breast rufous. Abdomen and under tail coverts white. Flanks brown, 

 the feathers edged with rufous. Wing lining whitish mottled with brown. 



I much regret not having been able to keep the skin. 



F. E. W. VENNING, Capt., m.b.o.u. 

 Pyawbwe, \%th March 1914. 



