426 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIl. 



TiMELiA,* Horsfield, 1821. 



Sharpe, Cat., B. M., vii., p. 507 ; Gates, F. B. I.,i., p. 131 ; Hartert, Nov. Zool., 

 viii., p. 53. 



This genus consists of only one species, and at present represented by 

 three geographical races, which extend from Nepal along the Himalayas 

 into Assam, Burma, S. China, the Malay Peninsula, and Java. 



It holds the proud . position of having given its name to what has been 

 most aptly termed the " Ornithological Waste-paper Basket," for into this 

 so-called family numerous genera have been cast, presumably because they 

 have been refused admission to other better known ones. 



They have the following characteristics : a short rounded wing, fitting 

 close to the body ; tail much longer than the wing, and greatly graduated ; 

 the feathers of the forehead stiff, with glistening shafts ; bill coarse and 

 intensely black. 



Key. 



* TiMELIA PILEATA PILEATA, Horsfield, 1821. 



The Java Red-cai?ped Babbler. 



Horsfield, Trans. Linn. See, xiii., p 151 (1821) ; Sharpe, Cat., B. M., vii., p. 507 ; 

 Hartert, Nov. Zool., viii., p. -53. 



Description. — " Java birds have abdomen pale buif ; the side of the breast and 

 flanks buffy-olive, the crew n rather lighter rufous, the whole back, rump and 

 upper tail-coverts much paler and more buffy ; the tail miich paler and less dis- 

 tinctly barred.'" (Hartert.) 



"Wing-, 67mm. to 73 mm- (or 2-65'' to 2-87'') ; the males being- larger than the 

 females." 



Habitat. — Java- There are specimens in the British Museum from Siam, Saigon 

 and Molucca, which are, I think, referable to this sub-species. 



