MALACOCEBCUS STRIATUS. 



(THE COMMON BABBLER.) 



Malacocercus striatus, Swains. Zool. 111. 2nd ser. pi. 127 (1S33); Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 59 



(1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 300; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 449 ; Legge, J. A. S. 



(Ceylon B.), 1870-71, p. 39 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 458. 

 Malacocercus bengalensis, Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 122 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat, Hist. 1853, xii. p. 271. 

 The " Seven Brothers " (so called from its associating in flocks of six or seven), Bust-bird, 



Dirt-bird, Bung-Thrush, Mud-bird, Europeans in Ceylon. P astro manduco ; Pastru 



bragaru (Layard), Portuguese in Ceylon. 

 Dnnclitcha, Sinhalese ; Punil, Tam. (Layard). 



Adult mail and female. Length 9-0 to 9-2 inches ; wing 4-0 to 4-2 ; tail 4-0 ; tarsus 1-3 ; middle toe and claw 1*0 to 

 1 -i 1.5 ; hind toe and claw 0-8 ; bill to gape 0-95 to 1-0. 



Iris white, or white faintly tinged with green; bill fleshy white or yellowish white ; legs and feet sickly yellow or 

 whitish in some, tinged in parts with yellowish ; eyelid yellowish. 



Head, upper surface, entire neck, and chest brownish ashy grey, the brown portions of the feathers being darkest on 

 the lower part of the hind neck, interscapular region, and chest ; the edges grey, contrasting with the dark hue, 

 many of the feathers likewise with pale mesial striae ; the wing-coverts more uniform than the back ; quills and 

 terminal portion of tail-feathers glossy brown, the outer webs of the former pale greyish at the edges, showing 

 conspicuously when t he wing is closed; basal part of tail olive-grey, and the dark portion cross-rayed with the 

 same hue, which gradually blends into the brown; lores greyish; lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts pale 

 rufescent, blending into the brownish grey of the chest and flanks ; under wing-coverts tinged with rufescent, 

 tin' inner edges of the quills at the base of the same hue. 



Individuals vary inter se in the amount of cross-raying of the tertials aud tail-feathers ; but this character is always 

 most perceptible when the feathers are new; it is plainly indicated in the back-feathers of some examples. 



Young. Immature birds are very similar to adults. Mr. Holdsworth remarks that the depth of the strise varies with 

 age, ami that in a well-grown young bird there is not a trace of striae on the tertiaries, and they are very indistinct 

 on the tail. 



This Babbler is not very aptly named striatus, for this term is usually held to signify longitudinal lines or central 

 streaks to feathers ; in the present ease, however, it was applied by Swainson to the species in question to denote 

 the transverse rays which cross the scapular, tertial, and tail-feathers, and which is a prevailing character in this 

 family of Thrushes. His figure (pi. 127, 2nd series, of his ' Illustrations ') represents these transverse striae more 

 pronounced than they ever really are ; for in the drawing they appear as black lines, well defined, on a greyish- 

 brown ground. It would appear that the name existed in a MS. form prior to Swainson's description of the 

 species ; he writes of it, " The present species we received from Ceylon, but without any notice of its habits ; and 

 the specimen is in the Paris Museum, under the manuscript name of Gracula striata, from the circumstance of 

 the scapular quills and also the tail-feathers being marked with trausverse lines of a darker brown, varying in 

 intensity according to the rays of light." 



This species is very closely allied to M. malabarieus, the Jungle -Babbler, found in the peninsula of India. It was formerlv 

 thought to be peculiar to the island, but specimens in my collection from Baniisseruin Island are not to be sepa- 

 rated from Ceylonese examples ; they measure from 3 - 95 to 4-2 in the wing ; the lower parts and under wing 

 are slightly more fulvous than the Ceylonese, and the tail-feathers are faintly tipped with the same ; in one 

 specimen the lateral pair have a very distinct rufescent tip; as regards striaj and the pale wing-edging, they are 

 identical. Two specimens received from the same locality are partial albinos. 



M. terricolor, the Bengal Babbler, has the brown of the back and wings more ruddy than in striatus, and the under 

 surface paler; the throat is grey, passing into sandy fulvous on the chest, and thence into a more albescent hue on 



