44 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



edged with bright yellow ; tertiaries dull cinereous, black tipped ; 

 beneath, the chin and throat are black, ear-coverts black, edged 

 with white ; the rest rufous, with black crescentic spots on the 

 neck and breast; olivaceous on the flanks, vent, and under-tail- 

 coverts. 



Bill dusky brown ; legs horny yellow brown ; irides red. 

 Length 10 inches ; wing 4 ; tail 4^ ; bill at front f ; tarsus If. 



This is perhaps the most common and abundant species about 

 Darjeeling. It is often seen on the road, picking up insects or 

 grain among the dung of cattle, but rapidly hopping off, and 

 diving into the nearest thicket on being approached. If one 

 utter its call, it is answered in all directions, though not very noisily. 



The eggs are greenish blue, in a nest neatly made with roots and 

 moss. It extends from Sikhim and Bootan to Nepal, and is very 

 closely allied to the last, which it replaces in the S. E. Himalayas. 

 T. mjicapillum, Bl., from the Khasia hills, and T. rnelanostignia, Bl., 

 from Tenasserim, are also representative species in their respec- 

 tive localities. 



417. Trochalopteron subunicolor, Hodgson. 



J. A. S., XII., 952— Blyth, Cat. 491— Horsf., Cat. 306— 

 Tarmal-pho, Lepch. — Nabom, Bhot. 



The Plain-colored Laughing-thrush. 



Descr. — Above olive-brown, with black marks ; the crown dashed 

 with dusky cinereous, and the feathers slightly edged dark ; lores 

 blackish; ear-coverts, and the feathers beneath them, margined 

 with silvery ash ; the outer primaries, and the emarginate portion 

 of the others, edged with bright yellow ; the central tail-feathers 

 golden olive-green ; lateral tail feathers blackish, olivaceous at 

 their base, with narrow white tips; the under parts, like those above, 

 viz., olive-brown with dark marks, but paler, and with the dark 

 markings less defined. 



Bill dusky ; legs reddish brown ; irides red-brown. Length 

 10 inches ; wing 3^ ; tail 4^ ; bill at front § ; tarsus If. 



This bird is classed as a Trochalopteron in Horsfield's Catalogue, 

 whilst the two former are placed in Pterocyclus, but there is no 



