70 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



members approach the Locustellce and Drymoicce of our Syhiadce. 

 Hodgson, too, had, I suspect, similar views of their affinities, for he 

 ranges Acrocephalus (which, though allied to our birds, I yet 

 consider more strictly a Sylviadean type) as Malacocircus abnormis; 

 and Swainson placed Chatarrhwa caudata as a Megalurus. Those 

 whose nidification is known lay blue eggs, and although they are 

 less social in their habits than the Babblers, they are perhaps 

 nearer to this group than to any other. They may be said to bear , 

 the same relation to the restricted Babblers that Sibia and 

 Actinodura do to the Gamdax group, or Alcippe to the Timalice. 



Gen. Megalurus, Horsfield. 



Char. — Bill slender, compressed, of moderate length, gently 

 hooked at the tip and notched ; nostrils apert ; rictal bristles few, 

 strong ; wing somewhat lengthened, third quill longest, 4th and 

 5th nearly equal to it ; tail long, graduated ; tarsus long, with large 

 scuta? ; middle toe very long ; lateral toes unequal ; hind toe long ; 

 all the claws long, slender, acute, moderately curved ; hind claw 

 large. Sexes differ in size. 



This genus, of which there is one species in India and the Malayan 

 isles, comprises several others from Australia and the oceanic 

 province. 



440. Megalurus palustris, Horsf. 



Lin. Trans., XIIL, 159— Blyth, Cat 781— Horsf., Cat. 512— 

 Malurus marginalis, Reinwardt, pi, col. 65, f. 2 — Takko, Beng. — 

 Jal-aggin, II. i. e. Water-lark. 



The Striated Marsh-babbler. 



Descr. — Upper parts bright olive-brown, with a mesial broad 

 black stripe to each feather of the back and the scapulars ; the 

 edges of the wing-feathers also brown ; tail pale dusky-brown, 

 with light edges to the feathers ; crown rufescent, with mesial, 

 dark lines, obsolete towards the front, and the feathers small, rigid, 

 and oppressed; a pale whitish streak over the eye; beneath, the 

 chin and throat are white, the rest whitish, tinged with earthy 

 brown ; the breast and flanks slightly speckled with brown. 



