Genus GAEEULAX. 



Bill straighter than in the last genus ; culmen straight at the base, gonys-angle pronounced. 



Nostrils oval, placed well forward and exposed. Wings longer than in Malacocercus, the 3rd 



quill much shorter than the 4th, the 5th and 6th the longest. Tail rather long, graduated and 



lax. Legs and feet very stout. Tarsus shielded with three wide scute. Hind toe and claw very 



large. 



GAKKULAX CINEREIFRONS. 



(THE ASHY-HEADED BABBLER.) 

 (Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Garrulax cinereifrons, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1851, xx. p. 176 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 122 

 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 270 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 300 ; 

 Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 448; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 20. 



Laughing Thrush, The Ashy-headed Garrulax, Kelaart, 



Ad. supra brunneus, alis dorso concoloribus, priinariis externis grisescenti-brumieo lavatis : rectricibus brunneis, extus 

 rufescenti marginatis : pileo nuchaque einereis, hac bruuneo lavata : loris et facie laterali tota cinereis : genis et 

 corpore subtiis toto rufescenti-f ulvis, abdouiine pallidiore : mento ipso albido : subalaribus rufeseenti-fulvis : reini- 

 gibus infra bruuneis intus fulvescentibus : rostro nigro : pedibus plurnbescenti-nigris : iride alba. 



Adult male and female. Length 9 - 6 to 1O0 inches ; wing 4'4 to 4-8 ; tail 4-0 to 4*3 ; tarsus 1*4 to 1*5 ; mid toe and 



claw l - 25 to 1*3 ; hind toe 06, claw (straight) 045 ; bill to gape l - 25. 

 Iris white ; eyelid plumbeous ; bill black, inside of mouth greenish yellow ; legs and feet plumbeous brown ; claws 



dusky horny ; posterior part of tarsus bluish. 

 Lores, face, and head ashy or cinereous grey, blending at the nape into the rufous-brown of the sides of the neck, upper 



surface, wings, and tail ; the first 3 or 4 primaries with a pale edge, and the inner webs of the quills brown ; tail 



deeper in hue than the wings ; chin albescent, blending into the fulveseent rufous of the fore neck and under 



surface ; abdomen more fulveseent than the breast, the concealed portion of the feathers there being albescent ; 



flanks and under tail-coverts dusky rufescent brown ; lower feathers of the thighs cinereous, under wing-coverts 



rufous. On the centre of the throat the colour is brighter than elsewhere. 



Young. Iris dull grey, with a dark outer circle ; bill black, the gape and base of lower mandible yellowish ; eyelid 

 greenish yellow ; legs and feet olivaceous brown, soles yellowish fleshy, claws yellowish horn. 



Forehead and head as in the adult, the nasal plumes dark, and the grey of the crown not continued so far back ; the 

 back is deeper rufous than the adujt, and the wing-coverts likewise are more intense ; chin not so white and the 

 throat and under surface more fulveseent. In the first plumage the feathers of the chest and breast are fluffy. 

 This dress appears to be quickly put off, and in the next stage or yearling plumage the iris is pearly grey or in 

 some white, with a tinge of reddish ; gape and eyelid yellow ; legs and feet bluish brown. There is scarcely 

 any perceptible difference in the grey of the occiput, but the fore neck is paler or more fulveseent. 



Obs. Cf. delesserti, the Wynaad Laughing Thrush, is allied to the present species. Mr. Bourdillon's dimensions of a 

 specimen in the flesh are ;— Length 9-0 inches, wing 4-3, tail 4-0, tarsus 1-45. It differs from O. cinereifrons in 

 having the under mandible yellow at the base, and the fore neck and breast white, changing into cinereous grey on 

 the flanks. 



Distribution. — The Ashy-headed Babbler was discovered by Dr. Kelaart ; it is not recorded in what 

 district he found it first, for Layard only writes of it as follows : — " I do not know where he (Kelaart) found 

 it ; but I obtained several specimens along the banks of the Kaluganga, about forty miles inland from Kalatura, 



3s2' 



