000 DUMETIA ALBOGULARIS. 



Habits. — The little " Pig-bird " (as it is not very aptly called by some of the natives in India) frequents 

 bushy patnas, low scrub, grass-fields dotted with shrubs, detached woods, and waste land in the vicinity of 

 jungle, associating in little troops, and keeping mostly out of sight in the lower parts of bushes and thick 

 underwood ; from such haunts it seldom strays, except when alarmed or when roaming hither and thither 

 in the mornings and evenings, when little companies may be seen making their way from one piece of cover 

 to another, in quite " follow-my-leader " fashion, each bird following its companion with a straight low flight 

 and a weak, plaintive ivheet note. When hunted out from a shrub or clump of brambles it endeavours to remain 

 as long as possible under cover, hopping timidly from branch to branch, and cautiously peering out at its 

 enemy, until it is time to beat a retreat, when it betakes itself off in the above methodical manner. Its food 

 consists of the larvae of various insects and minute Coleoptera, and in feeding it possesses much the manner 

 of Alcippe. On one occasion I observed a little flock, which was assembled at the base of an umbrageous tree m 

 thick jungle, indulging in a series of quaint antics; they were hopping spasmodically about, jerking up their 

 wings with a puffing out of their breast-feathers, and every now and then dropping like balls of fluff on to a 

 bed of dry leaves, where they seemed to have discovered a welcome supply of food. 



Nidification. — The breeding-season lasts from March until July, the nest being built in a low bush 

 sometimes only a few inches from the ground. It is globular in shape and loosely constructed of grass, stalks, 

 and dry blades or bents, sometimes interwoven with fibrous or caterpillar-eaten leaves, the interior being 

 composed of the same but finer material than the body. The eggs are usually three in number, dull white, 

 closely freckled throughout with small ferruginous spots ; in some there is a well-formed zone round the 

 obtuse end. They are rather small for the bird, measuring 07 to 072 inch in length by 0"51 to 053 inch 

 in breadth. 



In South India this bird breeds in June. Mr. Hume thus describes a nest sent him by Miss Cockburn, 

 and taken from a coffee-bush in the Kotagherry district. It was " small and nearly globular, composed 

 entirely of broad flaggy grass, without any lining or any admixture whatsoever of other material ; it was 

 loosely put together, and had a comparatively narrow entrance at the top." This nest contained three eggs ; 

 and mention is made of another one with the same number. The ground-colour of these eggs was china- 

 white, marked with a profusion of specks and spots, which, though spread over the whole surface, were 

 " gathered most intensely into an imperfect, more or less confluent, cap or zone at the larger end, where, 

 also, a few purplish-grey spots and specks, not found on any other part of the egg, were noticeable." They 

 vary from P ~ to 0T5 inch in length by 05 to Oo3 inch in breadth. 



Genus ALCIPPE. 



Bill stout ; culmen curved from the base, commissure curved throughout ; tip distinctly 

 notched. Nostrils oval ; rictal bristles small but stout. Wings rounded ; the 5th quill generally 

 the longest. Tail short and rounded. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw. 



Of small size. 



