114 CEATEEOPODIDA 



174. Stachyrhidopsis pyrrhops, Hodgs. The Red-billed Babbler. 



Stachyris pyrrhops, Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 21 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 392. 



Accounts differ somewhat as to the eggs of the Bed-billed 

 Babbler. 



Erom Murree, Colonel 0. H. T. Marshall writes : — " .Nest found 

 in low ground, about 100 yards from the River Jheelum, situated 

 in a low bush externally composed of broad dry reed-leaves, and 

 interiorly of fine grass, cup-shaped. Eggs, four in number, long 

 oval, white, with a few reddish specks at the larger end. Length 

 •7, breadth - 5. Lays in the latter end of June, 4000 feet up." 



The nest, which he kindly sent me, is a deep cup, coarsely made 

 interiorly of grass-stems, externally of broad blades of grass, in 

 which a few dead leaves are incorporated; there is no lining. 

 Exteriorly the nest is about 3 - 5 inches in diameter, and about 3 in 

 depth ; the egg-cavity is a little more than 2 inches in diameter, 

 and fully l - 75 in depth. 



Mr. Hodgson " found the nest " of this species in Nepal, " at an 

 elevation of about 6000 feet, in shrubby upland." It was " placed in 

 a small shrub about 2 feet from the ground." It was " a very deep 

 cup, about 4 inches in length, and 2-5 in diameter externally, 

 placed obliquely endwise upon cross-stems of the shrub, and 

 opening, as it were obliquely, upwards at one end," the cavity 

 being about 1-5 in diameter. The nest was made of " dry leaves 

 and grass pretty compactly woven." The nest " contained four 

 eggs," which are described as " whitish, with spare and faint 

 fawn-coloured spots," and are figured as measuring - 65 by 0-47. 



Captain Hutton says : — " This is a common species both in the 

 Dhoon and in the hills, and may be found at all seasons, making 

 known its presence among the brushwood by the utterance of a 

 clear and musical note like the ringing of a tiny bell. In the 

 winter time it is often mixed up with flocks composed of Siva 

 strigida and Liolhrix luteus, creeping among the bushes like the 

 Pari and Phylloscojn. It constructs its nest at the base of bushes, 

 the eggs being three in number, of a faint greenish grey, thickly 

 irrorated with small reddish-brown specks. The nest is composed 

 of dry grass-blades externally, within which is a layer of fine 

 woody stalks and fibres, and lined with black hair. It is cup- 

 shaped, and placed upon a thick bed of dried leaves, which are 

 most probably accumulated beneath the bush by the wind. One 

 nest was taken at Dehra, in a garden, on the 30th July, and others 

 at Mussoorie about the same time." 



But the eggs sent by Captain Hutton clearly do not, I think, 

 pertain to this species. Those taken by Colonel Marshall are 

 certainly genuine, and are considerably larger and very differently 

 coloured eggs. 



In shape they are moderately broad ovals, some of them slightly 

 compressed towards the small end. The shell is very fine and 

 smooth, but with scarcely any gloss ; the ground is pure white, 



