816 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



and nape chestnut; sides of the head dark grey; ear-coverts black 

 margined pinkish white ; chin and throat black ; the amount of rufous on 

 forehead varies greatly. 



Distnbution. —'^ikh.im., Butan, Daphla Hills, and possibly Tibet. 



TROCHALOPTBE.IJM ERYTHROCEPHALUM CHRYSOPTERTJM, Gould. 



The Shillong Chestnut-headed Laughing Thrush. 



lanthocinda chrysoptera, Gould, P. Z. S., 1835, p. 48. 



T. ruficapillum, Sharpe, Cat. B.M., vii., p. 363. 



T. chrysopterum, Gates, F.B.I., i., p. 90. 



Description. — As in the E.B.I. Breast and neck spotted with brown ; 

 forehead, lores and continued back as a supercilium ashy-grey ; crown and 

 nape chestnut ; ear-coverts rufous to ashy rufous ; chin and throat dark 

 chestnut. 



Distribution. — The Khasia Hills, this sub-species is peculiar to the 

 " Assam back-water. " 



Nesting. — [The breeding reason of this sub-species commences in the end 

 of April and ceases in the first week of June though a few odd nests 'con- 

 taining eggs may be found as late as August. The nest is a wide shallow 

 cup of moss, roots, vents, grasses and dead leaves, lined with rootlets, fern 

 rachse and tendrils or, occasionally, fine grass. It is fairly well built and 

 in general appearance much like many thrushes nests. No attempt seems 

 to be made at concealment and it is usually placed in some tall, thinly 

 foliaged bush about six feet from the ground, in Pine or Evergreen Forest. 



The eggs are generally two in number, sometimes three and very rarely 

 four. In type of colouration they are like the eggs of erythrocephalum, but 

 are more boldly marked with a few black, or deep purple red spots blotches 

 or lines. In a few eggs their markings are very scanty and in some are 

 more numerous than ever the care with the previous birds' eggs. 



They vary in length between l-lOxl'30 and in breadth between 87"^ and 

 99", the average of 50 eggs being 1-22" x 93."— E. C. S. B.] 



Trochaloptertjm erythrocephalum erythrol^ma, Hume. 

 Hume's Chestnut-headed Laughing Thrush. 



T. erythroloema, Hume, S.F., x., p. 153 (1881) ; Gates, F.B.I , i., p. 90. 



T. holerythrops, Rippon, Bui. B.G.C., xiv., p. 83. Harington. Bui. B. G.C., 

 xxxiii., p. 93. 



"Like T. erythrocephalum, but the cheeks and throat uniform with the 

 crown " — (Hume). 



Up to the present only one specimen of this species has been known, the 

 type which was obtained by Hume near Matchi, Eastern Manipur. 



There are, however, numerous specimens of T. holerythrops, Rippon, from 

 the Chin Hills, which agree with the type-specimen of T. e. erythrolcema 

 in showing no signs of the grey supercilium so noticeable in T. e. godxoini, 

 Harington, from N. Cachar and W. Manipur. It must have been with 

 specimens of this subspecies that Col. Rippon compared his birds from the 

 Chin Hills, and not with the type of T. erythrolama, Hume, as Col. Rippon 

 says in his description that his T. holerythrops is similar to T. erythrolcema, 

 but has no grey supercilium. 



The name T. holei-ythrops is, therefore, synonymous with T. e. erythrol- 

 cema, Hume. 



Description.- — As in the F.B.I, breast and neck spotted ; forehead 

 greyish ; entire head, and nape chestnut ; no grey supercilium ; ear-coverts 

 dull chestnut ; chin dusky, throat dull chestnut slightly darker than the 

 head. 



