NOTES ON INDIAN TIMELIIDES AND THEIR ALLIES. 639 



Bilttikofer. — Notes — Leyden Museum, xvii., p. 101. 



" Bill long and rather stout, not fully as long as the head, as high at the 

 nostrils as it is broad ; nasal aperture oval and placed in front of the nasal 

 groove ; rictal bristles long, reaching beyond the nostrils ; tail considerably 

 shorter than the pointed wing, but three times as long as the tarsus, tohich 

 is remarhahly short, not more than an inch in length ; toes rather short and 

 weak in proportion to the tarsus." 



The chief characteristics of this genus are given by Dr. Biittikof er, namely: 

 a pointed wing, and remarkably short tarsus and weak feet. These 

 characters are total foreign to the Timeliince, whose characteristics are 

 a short rounded wing, and large and strong legs and feet. Besides the 

 above, Setaria have powerful straight bills, with a few overhanging hairs ' 

 over the nostrils and long well developed rictal bristles. 



Setaria magna magna,* Eyton 



The Red-headed Tree-Babbler. 



Malacopterum magnum, Eyton, P. Z. S. (1839), p. 103 ; Sharpe, Cat., B. M,, 

 vii., p. 565 ; Gates, F. B. I., i., p. 161. 



Description. — "Forehead and crown bright ferruginous, the anterior fea- 

 thers black-shafted and the posterior ones faintly edged with black ; lores and 

 a broad supercilium grey; the middle of the feathers whitish; the whole nape 

 black ; ear-coverts fulvous-brown with pale shafts ; the whole upper plum- 

 age olive-brown, tinged with ferruginous on the rump, which colour also 

 suffuses the tipper tail-coverts and the outer webs of the tail feathers ; 

 cheeks mottled grey and white ; chin, throat, and upper breast white, 

 streaked with grey ; remainder of lower plumage greyish- white." 



^' Legs, feet, and claws, blue, varying from pale plumbeous to pale 

 small blue ; upper mandible dark horny brown, lower mandible and often 

 the edges of the upper plumbeous blue, fading to bluish white at the tips ; 

 iris carmine to orange red." 



Length about 7", tail 3", wing 3"5", tarsus 9", bill from gape 1". 



Distribution. — The extreme south of Tenasserim, extending down the 

 Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo. 



Habits and Nesting. — I can find nothing recorded about its nidification. 

 " This bird hunts about trees and bushes in pairs and small parties, seldom 

 or never descending to the ground." (Gates.) 



Setakia magnirostkis, t Moore. 



The Brown-headed Tree-Babbler. 



Setaria magnirostre. Gates, F.B. I., vol. i., p. 151. 

 Turdinus magnirostris . — Sharpe, Cat., B. M., vol. vii., 547. 

 Description. — As in Gates, F. B. I. 



Distribution. — The extreme south of Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, 

 and Cochin China.. 



* Setaria magna cineeea, Eyton, 



Malacopterum cinereum, Sharpe, Cat. B.M.,p. 565. 



Bill black, the mandible whitish lead colour ; leg's and feet pale pinkish 

 lead-grey ; iris, Indian red. Length 6", culmen 65, wing- 3, tail 25, tarsus 

 8. Female slightly smaller. 



Distribution. — Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra. , 



fSETARIA AFPINIS, Blyth. 



Malacopterum affine, Sharpe, Cat., B. M., vii., p. 569. 



Lores and a short streak to the eye whitish ; forehead, crown and nape dark 

 brownish to black, upper plumage dark fulvous brown, tinged ashy on upper 



