TIMALTN^J. 71 



Bill horny brown above, paler beneath ; legs dull purplish or 

 greenish-brown; irides pale brown. Length of male 9|- to 10 

 inches; ext. 12; wing of; tail 5; bill at front f ; tarsus If. The 

 female is only 8£ inches long. 



This bird has an extensive geographical distribution, being 

 found in Bengal and Central India, extending to Assam, Burmah, 

 the Malayau peninsula, and Java. I have seen it on the banks of 

 the Wein-Ganga and Indrawatty, tributaries of the Godavery ; also 

 on the Nerbudda, where it frequents the grass and reeds on the banks, 

 or on the islets. But it is most abundant in Lower Bengal, where 

 the country is intersected by rivers, and where long grass and 

 reeds cover miles of country. It does not appear to associate in 

 flocks, but hunts about the reeds and grass for various insects, 

 chiefly grasshoppers and coleoptera, and, as Mr. Blyth remarks, 

 it has a remarkable freedom of the action of its legs enabling it 

 to sprawl widely as it clambers among the reeds and grass 

 stems. 



Every now and then one rises to the air with a fine song, which 

 Blyth calls a fine flute-like voice, and after fluttering slowly along 

 for a few seconds, warbling all the time, descends again. The 

 song""is not confined to the breeding season, for I have heard it at 

 all times. Its nest and eggs have not been observed yet, abundant 

 though it be in many districts. In the breeding season the bill 

 becomes livid blackish, and the whole inside of the mouth wholly 

 black. 



Gen. Ch^tornis, Gray. 



Char. — Bill very short, strong, high, compressed, curved on the 

 culmen, strongly hooked at the tip, and notched ; five remarkably 

 strong bristles between the gape and the eyes, forming an almost 

 vertical range curved stiffly outwards ; wings somewhat long, 3rd 

 quill longest, 4th and 5th nearly equal to it ; 2nd equal to the 7th ; 

 feet and legs strong ; tarsus moderately long, the middle toe 

 elongate, laterals unequal, inner toe very versatile, hind toe long, 

 all the claws slightly curved. 



This genus chiefly differs from Megalurus by the very remarka- 

 ble bill, which, from its compression, is quite Timaline in 

 character. 



