BLYTH'S THRUSH-BABBLER. 
57 
softj the basal two thirds of each of them being white but not showing 
through when the feathers are properly disposed ; the inner webs of the 
quills of the wing plain brown ; ear-coverts with the shafts paler ; whole 
lower plumage white^ tinged with pale grey across the breast^ the sides of 
the neck and flanks. 
Length 5'5 inches^ tail 2'lj wing 2*75, tarsus 1^ bill from gape '9. 
The female is rather smaller. 
My men procured at Malewoon^ in the extreme south of Tenasserim_, a 
bird which is undoubtedly identical with the species usually known by the 
name of Brachypteryx umbratilis, with a large series of which in the 
British Museum I have compared it. 
Trichastoma rostratum of Blyth has always been rather a mysterious 
bird. The types are in the Calcutta Museum ; and I have consequently 
not been able to examine them. Count Salvadori doubtfully identifies 
this bird with Setaria affinis ; but in my opinion the descriptions and 
dimensions of the two birds do not fit at all well. Mr. Hume asserts that 
he has procured the true T. rostratum in the Malay peninsula,, having 
compared his specimens with the types. Such being the case^ it is to be 
regretted that he did not give a carefully drawn-up description of the 
species. 
After a careful and prolonged inquiry into the matter^ entailing the exami- 
nation of almost every known species of the Timeliine birds^ I have arrived 
at the conclusion that my Tenasserim bird and B. umbratilis are both to 
be referred to T. rostratum. Mr. Blyth^s description fortunately happens 
to be a very clear one; and I cannot arrive at any other conclusion. I 
may add that the bird I identify with T. rostratum has the rictal bristles 
of very great lengthy and that this character would suggest to Blyth the 
name of Trichastoma for the genus. 
Blyth''s Thrush-Babbler^ as before stated^ was procured at Malewoon, in 
the south of Tenasserim, by my men, who were sent to that place to make 
a collection of birds. If my identification is correct, this bird has also been 
found in the Malay -peninsula at Klang and Malacca, and in the island of 
Borneo. 
Nothing whatever is known of its habits. 
