DUMETIA ALBOGULABIS. 



(THE WHITE-THROATED WREN-BABBLER. 



Malacocercus albogularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 453. 



Dumetia albogularis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 140 (1849); Layard & Kelaart, 



Prodromus, Cat. App. p. 58 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 272 ; 



Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 403 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 26 



(1863); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 447 ; Hume, Nest and Eggs, ii. p. 247 (1874) ; 



Butler, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 471 ; Bourdillon, ibid. 1876, p. 399. 

 Timalia hyperythra, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1839, x. p. 261. 

 Pellomeum albogulare, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1852, xxi. p. 357. 

 " Pig-bird," in India ; Batitckia, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 5-6 to 5-7 inches ; wing 2-1 to 2-25 ; tail 2-2 ; tarsus 0-8 ; middle toe and claw 0-65 : 

 bill to gape 065. 



Iris greenish white or white : bill, upper mandible dusky or pinkish brown with fleshy margin, lower mandible fleshy, 

 tip dusky ; legs and feet reddish fleshy, toes slightly dusky, claws brownish. 



Above olivaceous brown, the forehead and front of crown rufous, and the hind neck slightly fulvescent or paler than 

 the back ; wings and tail brown, the primaries and rectrices slightly edged pale ; upper tail-coverts in some 

 covered with a yellowish hue ; lores and orbital feathers whitish ; beneath rufous, with the chin, upper part of 

 throat, and centre of breast white ; under tail-coverts and wing-coverts paler than the flanks. 



The rufous of the lower surface seems to be brighter in the breeding-season, with the white of the throat and breast 

 more sharply defined against it. 



Young. Iris pale olive-greyish. The forehead wants the ferruginous tint, and is concolorous with the head. 



Obs. Several examples in the British Museum are somewhat darker in the tint of the upper surface than most 

 Ceylonese specimens that have come under my notice ; the rufous colour of the forehead is slightly darker in my 

 insular series than in the aforementioned, but the coloration of the under surface is similar. They measure in 

 the wing from 2-05 to 2-2 inches. Mr. Bourdillon records the dimensions of a South-Indian specimen, measured 

 in the flesh, as — length 5-62 inches; expanse 6-25 ; wing 2-12; tail 2-25; tarsus 0-73; bill from gape 0-57. 



Distribution. — This interesting little bird is tolerably common in Ceylon, being found in nearly all parts 

 of the low country and on most of the open, bushy patnas of the hill-region up to an elevation of 5600 feet 

 or thereabouts. It is of frequent occurrence in the Western Province, being very partial to the damp sedgy 

 parts of the cinnamon-gardens of Colombo ; in the extreme south it is, perhaps, rarer, but in the south-east 

 flat region between Haputale and the sea, and in many parts of the eastern portion of the island, it is a common 

 bird. In the northern parts, again, it is not so frequent. In the great patna-districts of Uva, in similar 

 localities in Hewahette, Dumbara, and on the slopes of the Knuckles, as well as in other open waste portions of 

 the Kandyan Province, it is as plentiful as in most parts of the low country, and especially so in the patna- 

 basin of Uva, being found there along the Badulla and Nuwara-Elliya road up to the vicinity of Hakgala. 

 In the southern ranges it is likewise not unfrequent. 



Jerdon has the following short paragraph on the distribution of this little bird in India : — " It is found 

 throughout Southern India in suitable localities, in bushy jungle, ravines, thick hedge-rows, &c, but is entirely 

 absent in the forest-districts of Malabar." Mr. Bourdillon writes of it as common in the Travancore hills 

 from 1000 to 2000 feet elevation. Dr. Fairbank records it from Khandala and Mahabaleshwar, but not from 

 Ahmeduagar. The only other mention which I can find of it being found to the north of the Deccan is 

 that by Captain Butler, who says it is not uncommon at Mount Aboo, and is occasionally seen in the plains of 

 that district ; Mr. Hume adds that this is by far the most northerly point reached by the species. 



St 



