VALIDITY OF SOME FORMS OF MIMICRY. 715 



Fam. CRATEROPIDyE. 



Subfam. Crateropin.e. (The Babblers.) 



"All feed on the ground like, thrushes. They . . . probabl}^ 

 derive no portion of their food directly from trees, the fruit they 

 occasionally eat being ]jicked off the ground as they forage for 

 insects." {Oates.) 



1 . The Southern Indian Babbler. Crateropus striatus. 



" Its food is entirely insectivorous, and is mostly taken by 

 scratching among leaves and debris on the gTound." 



2. The Ceylonese Babbler. C. riifescens. Indigenous. 



" I found the stomachs of several examples killed in the month 

 of August to contain portions of a lai-ge black beetle which was 

 affecting the jungle in large numbers at the time." 



3. The Ashy-headed Babbler, C. cinereifrons. Indigenous. 



" Delights in exploring the mossy I'ecesses of fallen trunks, in 

 which humid spots it finds an abundance of caterpillars, bup-s, 

 hemiptera, and coleopterous insects." 



4. The Ceylonese Scimitar Babbler. Poinatorhinus melanurus. 



Indigenous. 

 " Goes about in small companies searching for its insect food 

 on low branches or clinging woodpecker fashion to the trunks or 

 large branches, about which it jumps and twists itself with con- 

 siderable agility." 



Subfam. Timeliinj*;. 



5. The Small White-throated Babbler. Dumetia albigularis. 



" Its food consists of the larvas of various insects and minute 

 coleoptei'a." 



6. The Ceylon Yellow-eyed Babbler. Pyctorhis nascdis. 



Indigenous. 

 " I have always found its food to consist of small coleoptera 

 and various minute insects." 



7. The Brown-capped Babbler. Pellerneum fuscicapilhmi. 



Indigenous. 

 " It feeds on the ground in dense thickets, picking up beetles 

 and insects from amongst decaying herbage ; it rarely shows 

 itself in the open." 



8. The Black-fi^onted Babbler. Khopocichla nigrifrons. 



Indigenous. 

 " This modest but active bird frequents underwood, thickets 



and tangled jungle subsisting entirely on various insects 



and their larvae." 



There is no indication among the Ceylon Babblers of any 



