THE RED-HEADED TREE-BABBLER. 
55 
Genus MALACOPTEEUM, Eyton. 
57. MALACOPTERUM MAGNUM. 
THE RED-HEADED TREE-BABBLER. 
Malacopteron magnum, Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 103 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 226 ; 
Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 270; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 95. Malacopteron 
majus, Bl. J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 461 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 225 ; Tiveedd. Ibis, 
1877, p. 309. 
Description. — Male and female. Lores and a broad supercilium grej, the 
centres of the feathers being more or less whitish ; forehead and crown 
bright ferruginous, the anterior feathers black-shafted and the posterior 
ones faintly edged with black ; a large patch on the nape black ; ear-coverts 
fulvous brown, with pale shafts ; whole upper plumage olive-brown, tinged 
wath ferruginous on the rump ; the inner webs of the wing-quills plain 
brown ; upper tail-coverts, the central pair of tail-feathers and the oater 
webs of all the others ferrugiuous ; the outermost pair of rectrices and the 
inner webs of all the others except the centre pair plain brown ; cheeks 
mottled grey and white; chin, throat and upper breast white streaked with 
grey ; remainder of lower plumage greyish white. 
The legs, feet and claws are blue, varying in shade from pale plumbeous 
to pale smalt-blue ; the upper mandible is dark horny brown, the lower 
mandible, and often the edges of the upper mandible, are plumbeous blue 
or white tiuged with blue, fading to bluish white at the tip ; theirides vary 
from carmine to orange-red, I think according to age, as a younger bird 
has them pale sienna-brown. (Davison.) 
Length 7 inches, tail 3, wing 3 "5, tarsus '9, bill from gape 1. The 
female is considerably smaller. 
The Red-headed Tree-Babbler has been found rarely in the extreme 
south of Tenasserim by Mr. Davison. 
It extends down the Malay peninsula and occurs in Sumatra and Borneo. 
This Babbler appears to be a tree bird, never, as far as Mr. Davison has 
observed, descending to the ground. It goes about in pairs or small parties^ 
hunting about in the bushes for its insect food. A closely allied species is 
M. cinereum which occurs in the Malay peninsula, but has not yet been 
procured in Tenasserim. In this species, which is smaller than M. magnum, 
the ferruginous feathers of the head are broadly terminated with black and 
the frontal feathers are not black-shafted. The throat and upper breast 
are unstreaked. 
