516 ELAPHRORNIS PALLISEEI. 



acquainted with tlie Ant-Thrush, although it is, in the limit of its range, quite a common bird, but at the same 

 time of such retiring manners, and so difficult to hunt into the open, that its presence is overlooked by those 

 who are unacquainted with its voice ; while, on the contrary, those who are familiar with it will recognize its 

 sharp little quitze at every 100 yards in such quiet solitudes as the jungles of the Horton Plains and other 

 similarly elevated regions. It is chiefly astir in the early part of the day ; and its lively little song is at that 

 time oftenest heard. It feeds entirely on the ground and among fallen timber, its strong, curved, hind claw 

 enabling it to cling to wood in any position, and its stout legs affording it the power of threading its way 

 quickly through the densest brakes. It is of unsociable habit, shunning the companionship of any species 

 but Alcippe nigrifrons, with which I have once or twice found it associating. 



Mr. Holdsworth's experience of its habits corresponds well with my own. He writes, " Frequently it 

 betrays its close neighbourhood by its ' cheep ' once or twice repeated ; and it will show itself for a moment 



within two or three yards of one ; then it is lost again in the thick jungle When on the ground it 



often jerks up its tail after the manner of the Robins ; but I have not observed this habit when it has been 

 on the stems of the jungle plants or creeping about the dry sticks." 



Nidification. — The Ant-Thrush breeds in March and April. Mr. Bligh writes me, "I found a nest at 

 Nuwara Eliya in April 1870; it was placed in a thick cluster of branches on the top of a somewhat densely- 

 foliaged small bush, which stood in a rather open space near the foot of a large tree; it was in shape a deep 

 cup, composed of greenish moss, lined with fibrous roots and the hair-like appendages of the green moss 

 which festoons the trees in such abundance at that elevation. It contained three young ones, plumagcd exactly 

 like their parents, who kept churring in the thick bushes close by, but would not show themselves much/' 



The figure in the Plate accompanying this article is that of a male shot at Horton Plains. 



PASSERES. 



TIMALIID^. 



Subfam. DRYMCECIN^E. 



Bill more or less straight, acute at the tip. Wings rounded, with the 1st quill about hall' 

 the length of the longest. Tail as long as, or longer than, the wing, graduated, the feathers lax. 

 Legs and feet stout ; the tarsus lengthened and shielded with moderately developed scutes ; 

 hind toe and claw large. 



Of small size. Nape mostly furnished with " hairs." 



