32- birds of india. 



The Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler. 



Descr. — Above light olive-brown ; the forehead and sides of the 

 head rusty ; a hoary spot just before the eye, and a short faint dusky 

 moustache ; beneath, white, dashed on the top of the breast with 

 dusky ; and the sides of the body, the lining of the wings, thighs, 

 and under tail -coverts, bright rusty. 



Bill horny ; legs fleshy-yellow ; irides pale yellow (hoary accord- 

 ing to Hodgson); orbitar skin slaty. Length 10^ inches; extent 

 11^; wing 3|; tail 4^; bill at front ly 4 ^ : tarsus 1^. 



The female is said to differ from the male in wanting the dark 

 moustache. 



This Pomatorhinus is found throughout the whole extent of the 

 Himalayas, from Simla to Sikhim and Bootan. It is not rare at 

 Darjeeling. Hutton says that it is "common in the N. W. Himalayas, 

 from 3,000 to 10,000, and even 12,000 feet ; always in pairs, 

 turning up the dead leaves on copsewood-covered banks, uttering 

 a loud whistle, answering and calling each other ; it breeds in 

 April, constructing a nest on the ground, of dry grasses and 

 leaf stalks of walnut trees, and is covered with a dome-shaped 

 roof, so nicely blended with the fallen leaves and withered 

 grasses, among which it is placed, as to be almost undistinguish- 

 able from them. The eggs are three in number, and white, of 

 ordinary oval shape. When disturbed the bird sprung along the 

 ground with long bounding hops, so quickly, that from its motions 

 and the appearance of the nest, I was led to believe it was a 

 species of rat." 



Somewhat allied in appearance and structure to this last species 

 is P. hypoleucos of Blyth, from Arrakan, and a new species, lately 

 found by me on the Khasia hills, Pom. McLellandi. The former 

 species, originally described by Blyth from a young specimen, under 

 the generic name of Orthorhinus, is still considered generically dis- 

 tinct by Tickell, who says that "the bill is soft in texture, and sub- 

 cylindric in form, the sinciput flat, and the tail broad and fan-like. 



Other Pomatorhini not previously noticed are P. Isidorei, 

 Lesson, from New Guinea; P. bomeensis, Cab., from Borneo ; 

 P. musicus and P. stridulus, Swinhoe, from China. The Australian 



