TIMALISLE. 65 



always in jungly places ; "but as we go north on the table land, It 

 leaves the jungles and wilds, and becomes the familiar and unscared 

 representative of the Khyr or Sat bkai. It is particularly abundant 

 at Jaulna in the Deccan, and the country round about. From this 

 it extends north and north-west to the valley of the Ganges, as at 

 Cawnpore, barely extending eastwards, for it is rare at Mhow, and 

 unknown at Saugor in Central India. About Jaulna it frequents 

 fields, hedges, orchards, and the vicinity of villages, generally asso- 

 ciating in large flocks, more numerous than those of Malacocircus 

 griseus, or Malabaricus. It feeds chiefly on the ground, and espe- 

 cially round the trunks of large trees, and near hedge-rows, turning- 

 over the fallen leaves with their bills and sometimes with their 

 claws, and picking up various insects, beetles, cockroaches, grass- 

 hoppers, &c, and also seeds and grain. I once saw one in vain 

 attempt to capture a grass-hopper on the wing. The fiock keep 

 up a continued chattering, occasionally changed to a more sono- 

 rous call, resembling " quey, quey, quey, quo, quo" pronounced 

 gutturally. Their flight is feeble and straggling. If the Shikra 

 sparrow-hawk be thrown at them, they defend each other with 

 great courage, mobbing the hawk, and endeavouring to release the 

 one she has seized. I think that Mr. Philipps must have had this 

 species in view, and not M. terricolor, when he writes of the latter 

 attacking a hawk and severely handling it. I have no doubt that 

 this bird extends through most of the N. W. Provinces, whilst M. 

 terricolor, so far as we know, is not found there ; and the name 

 he gives is nearly that applied to the former bird in other districts. 

 I have frequently found the nest and eggs, the former a loose 

 structure of roots, twigs, and grass, with usually four verditer blue 

 eggs. Burgess says that he found the nest of this bird in a tuft 

 of grass in some boggy ground. This is a very unusual spot for 

 them to select, and, from the small size of the eggs, I suspect that 

 he must have got the nest and eggs of Chatarrliaza caudata, or, 

 it may be, of Megalurus palustris. 



Mr. Blyth considers that some African birds may perhaps be 

 found to range in Maholmia, especially Malurus squamiceps and 

 M. acacice of Riippell, the former from Eastern Africa, and the 

 latter from Arabia Petroea, which belongs to the African Fauna. 



I 



