NOTES ON INDIAN TIMELIIDES AND THEIR ALLIES. 435 



See Footnote p., 339, Jour. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXIII, No. 2. 

 This is the young of Pomotorhinas e. imberbis. 



Drymocataphus tickelli tickelli, Blyth. 

 TickeWs Babbler. 



Pellorneum tickelli, Blyth, J. A. S. B., xxviii., p. 414 (1859) ; Sharpe, Cat., 

 B. M., vii., p. 557 ; Gates, F. B. I., i., p. 146. 



Trichostoma minus, Bingham, S. F., ix., p. 179. 



Description. — Whole upper plumage fulvescent olive-brown ; the feathers of 

 the forehead paler, and with no tinge of olive ; the feathers of the crown 

 with pale shaft stripes ; lores, a very indistinct eye-brow, and the feathers 

 round the eye pale fulvous ; ear-coverts pale fulvous-brown, with paler shaft 

 stripes ; the sides of the neck the same as the back but paler ; chin, throat, 

 and in a few birds, the centre of the breast whitish ; otherwise the whole 

 lower plumage uniformly ochraceous throughout, darker on the flanks. 



" Bill dusky above, pale flesh colour beneath ; iris reddish-brown ; legs and 

 feet fleshy white." (Gates). 



Wing : average of 14 specimens, 61 mm.^ max., 64 mm., min., 57 mm. 

 Females slightly smaller ; exposed culmen, 14 mm. ; tarsus, 25 mm. 



Note. — Dr. Sharpe has identified Tricliostoma minus, Hume, as being this 

 species, there is also one of Col. Bingham's specimens, so labelled, in the 

 Tring Museum, from Tenasserim. Col. Bingham found the nest of T. minus, 

 and distinctly says that the eggs are white spotted with pink. Mr. Stuart 

 Baker has also taken the eggs of D. t. tickelli in Assam, these are a pale 

 green spotted with brown. It is most improbable that this species lays two 

 distinct tyes of eggs, and I think it will be most probably found that the 

 birds from Tenasserim are different to those found in Assam. In this last 

 locality we have also another very closely allied sub-species, D. assamensis, 

 Sharpe, which also lays greenish coloured eggs spotted with brown. And I 

 think its most improbable that two so nearly allied sub-species should be 

 found in the same locality, Mr. Gates gives the Khasia Hills as the habitat 

 for both these species and 1 should not be surprised if D. t. tickelli and 

 D. t. assamensis proved to be one and the same species. 



I hope, therefore, that some one more competent than myself will settle 

 the identity of these birds and their distribution. 



Distribution. — Tenasserim, the Pegu Yomas, Karen Hills and Southern 

 Shan States, Gates also gives the Khasia hills and Munipur. 



Nesting. — Bingham, in Gates "Nest and Eggs," says, "on the 15th March 

 I found a little domed nest made of dried bamboo leaves, and lined with 

 fine roots, placed in a cane bush, a foot or so above the ground. It con- 

 tained three tiny white eggs, with minate pink dottings chiefly at the larger 

 end, one egg, however, is nearly pure white. I shot the little bird off the 

 nest, which Mr. Hume identifies as this species." 



Stuart Baker, J. B. N. H. S., viii., p. 189, first notices the difference 

 between his eggs and those described by Bingham, and then describes the 

 nest and eggs. It builds a domed shaped nest on or near the ground, and 

 lays 3 or 4 eggs. These have the ground colour a pale greenish-grey, and 

 the markings consist of numerous freckles and blotches of pale reddish- 

 brown. Measuring '77" to -88" by -58" to -66". 



Drymocataphus tickelli assamensis, Sharpe. 

 Austin'' s Babbler. 



Drymocata'phus assamensis, Sharpe, Cat., B. M., vii., p. 557 (1883) ; Gates, 

 F. B. I., i., p. 147. 



" This species differs from D. tickelli, in having the upper plumage ruf es- 

 cent olive-brown, and in having a longer tarsus." (Gates.) 



