THE RUFOUS-NECKED SCIMITAR BABBLER. 71 
reserve. It was cup-shaped^ and loosely made of bamboo-leaves and lined 
with strips of the same. It contained three white eggs. The nest was 
placed under the ledge of a sheltering bank^ and appears to have been 
well concealed. Mr. Davison also found the nest in Tenasserim^ but in 
January. It was a globular structure^ and contained three eggs. 
The habits of all the Scimitar Babblers are much alike. They live on 
the ground or in shrubs very close to the ground, only very occasionally 
mounting trees. They conceal themselves so well that they are seldom 
seen ; but when seen they generally perform fantastic motions, spreading 
out the tail and drooping the wings. They have different calls, which 
resolve themselves, however, into variations of the words ^' hoot-hoot-hoot 
constantly repeated. They frequent the very thickest pieces of jungle, 
not only where the bushes themselves are thick, but where the low under- 
growth is entangled and intricate. 
They all nest on the ground or on sloping banks, and they make a nest 
which is in most cases domed; occasionally only cup- shaped, as recorded 
above. The eggs are invariably white. 
73. POMATORHINUS NUCHALIS. 
THE RUFOUS-NECKED SCIMITAR BABBLER. 
Pomatorhinus schisticeps, apud Hume, S, F. iii. p. 121 (nec Hodgs.). Poma- 
torhinus nuchalis, Timedd. Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, xx. p. 535 ; Hwne 8f 
Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 284 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1878, p. 134 ; Hume, S. F. ix. 
p. 251 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 207. Pomatorhinus leucogaster {nec Gotdd), 
Bl. 8f Wald. B. Burm. p. 113 5 Wardlaiv Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 465 ; Hume 
Sr Dav. S. F. vi. p. 282. 
Description. — Male and female. Like P. olivaceus, but the chestnut on 
the neck is continued down the sides of the breast and body, replacing the 
earthy brown of those parts in P. olivaceus. The rufous is also continued 
round the neck, forming a collar more or less distinct. 
Bill orange-yellow ; the base of the lower mandible and the gape dusky j 
inside of month flesh-colour ; iris pale yellow ; eyelid and ocular region 
pale lavender ; legs dusky plumbeous claws horny brown. 
Length 11 '3 inches, tail 3'9, wiug 3"8, tarsus 1'3, bill from gape 1*3. 
The Rufous-necked Scimitar Babbler occurs in the immediate vicinity 
of Thayetmyo, where I found it rather common. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay 
got it at Tonghoo, on the Karin hills, and in Karennee at 3000 feet 
elevation. Mr. Davison observed it in Tenasserim from the pine-forests 
of the Salween down to Thatone. 
It is not yet known to occur anywhere else in the province. 
