THE SINGING BIRDS. 223 



THE WHITE-TUFTED LAUGHING THRUSH. 

 The White-tufted Laughing Thrush (Garrulax kucolophus) is a large bird, about twelve 

 inches long and fifteen and a half broad ; its wing and tail both measure five inches. The head — with 

 the exception of the black cheek-stripes — the nape, throat, and breast are pure white, shaded with 

 grey upon the sides ; the rest of the plumage is of a reddish olive-brown, deepest in shade on the 

 inner web of the quills and tail-feathers. All the wooded tracts of the Himalayas afford shelter 

 to large numbers of these remarkable birds, and resound with their most peculiar cry, which so closely 

 resembles a hideous laugh as to startle, and, indeed, positively to terrify such as hear it for the first 

 time. Insects, snails, worms, and berries afford them their principal means of subsistence ; the 

 former are sought for on the ground or in the foliage, and the latter are gathered from the branches 

 as they hang suspended from the trees. The nest is a mere mass of roots, moss, and grass, placed 

 in a thick bush. The eggs are few in number, and have a pure white shell. Frith gives us an 

 interesting account of the manner in which a very similar species, the Chinese Laughing Thrush 

 (Garrulax C/iincnsis), kills and devours its prey. "This bird," he tells us, "seized a snake about a 

 foot long that was put into its cage, struck it against the ground, bored its head repeatedly with its 

 bill, and then proceeded to eat it, holding the body firmly with his foot whilst he tore it into pieces. 

 Large beetles he treated in a similar manner, and, previous to snapping up a wasp or a bee, always 

 allowed his intended victim to drive its sting repeatedly into his expanded tail ; small pieces of 

 cooked flesh he placed between the bars of his cage before proceeding to devour them." 



The WATER OUZELS (Cinclus) constitute a group whose members, though closely allied 

 to the Thrushes, have been separated from them on account of certain peculiarities by which they 

 are distinguished. They all have slender bodies, which, however, appear stout, owing to the great 

 thickness of the plumage ; delicate, almost straight beaks, compressed at the sides and narrow 

 towards the tip ; the nostrils are closed by a fold of skin ; the feet are high and strong, the toes 

 long, and armed with very hooked and strong claws ; the wing is unusually short, much rounded, 

 and almost as broad as it is long ; the tail-feathers, which are broad and slightly rounded at the 

 extremity, are so short as to be little more than stumps. The thick, soft plumage is totally unlike 

 that possessed by any other land birds, being furnished with an undergrowth of downy feathers. The 

 Water Ouzels are met with in all parts of the world, but are especially numerous in northern 

 countries ; they are also occasionally seen in the Himalayas, Andes, and other tropical mountain 

 ranges. 



THE WATER OUZEL, OR DIPPER. 



The Water Ouzel, or Dipper (Cinclus aquatints), is seven and a half inches long, and eleven 

 and one-third broad, the wing measures three and a half, and the tail two inches ; the female is a few 

 lines smaller than her mate. The coloration of the plumage is simple, but very striking, the head 

 and nape are yellowish brown ; the feathers on the rest of the upper part of the body are slate-grey, 

 edged with black ; the entire throat is milk-white ; the upper breast reddish brown, and the remainder 

 of the under side deep brown ; the feathers of the young are light slate-colour, bordered with a deeper 

 shade on the back, and on the under parts of a dirty white, with dark edges and markings. The 

 Dippers are found very extensively throughout all such European mountain ranges — except the 

 Scandinavian Alps, where they are replaced by a similar but darker bird — as are well supplied with 

 water ; they also frequent Central Asia, Palestine, and North-western Africa. In the south and 

 extreme east of Asia and in America they are represented by a variety of nearly allied species. In 

 Great Britain they are also numerous, especially in Derbyshire, upon the banks of the Dove and 



