48 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
even to catcli a glimpse of it. It has a peculiar series of notes, which it 
utters frequently and by which alone its presence can be detected. Its 
food, in the rains especially, appears to be chiefly grasshoppers. I have 
never been able to find the nest. 
Genus STACHYHHIS, Hodgs. 
49. STACHYRHIS NIGRICEPS. 
THE BLACK-THROATED TREE-BABBLER. 
Stach37T]iis nigriceps, Hodgs. J. A. S. JB. xiii. p. 378 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 21 ; 
Hufjie, Nests and Eggs, p. 242 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 117 ; Bl. B. Burin, p. 116 ; 
Oates, S. F. v. p. 252 ; Anders. Yminan Exped. p. 636 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. 
p. 264} Hume, S. F. p. 95. 
Description. — Male and female. Whole top of the head from the bill to 
the nape blackish, each feather edged with white ; a small circle round the 
eye white ; chin and throat smoky white ; cheeks pure white ; ear-coverts 
rufous ; the whole upper plumage with tail rufescent olive-brown, the inner 
webs of the quills plain brown ; sides of neck and whole lower plumage 
fulvous. Specimens from Sikhim have the ear-coverts black, and inter- 
mediate varieties occur. 
Bill bluish black on the upper mandible, pale bluish on the lower, the 
anterior half of the margins dusky; mouth flesh-colour; iris orange -brown ; 
legs pale dusky green ; claws yellowish. 
Length 5*5 inches, tail 2, wing 2*2, tarsus '85, bill from gape *75. 
The Black-throated Tree-Babbler occurs in the evergreen forests of the 
Pegu hills on the eastern spurs ; but I did not find it common there, 
although I found two nests. Mr. Blyth gives it from Arrakan. Mr. 
Davison states that it is rare in Tenasserim, and he did not meet with it 
lower down than the town of Tenasserim. 
It occurs in the hills east of Bhamo, and in Cachar and the hill-tracts of 
Eastern Bengal. It is also found in Sikhim and Nipal. 
It nests at the beginning of April. The structure is placed in a hollow 
in the side of the bank of a nullah among dead leaves, and is constructed 
of bamboo-leaves loosely put together and lined with fine fibres. It is 
domed, with a hole at the side. The eggs are three in number and pure 
white in colour. 
