DETA ILED LIST OF BIRDS. 
195 
boldly blotched, the majority of the markings being still at 
the large end. 
The eggs vary from 107 to 1*15 in length, and from 0*76 
^to 0-82 in breadth. O. iJ.] 
425. Trochalopteron lineatum (Vigors). (PI. VIII.) 
The Streaked Laughing Thrush was very abundant from 
Gond all the way through Kashmir on the return journey in 
October. It was not observed on the upward journey (when, 
indeed, the brushwood and jungle must have been dense, 
and it was breeding), nor at any time in Ladak, &c. [G. H.~\ 
This is, perhaps, the very commonest and most familiar 
of the Himalayan Babblers throughout their extent, at any 
rate from Darj cling to Murree, at heights from 3000 to 
8000 feet south of the snowy range ; but common as it is, we 
believe that it has not hitherto been figured. 
This species lays from the end of April to the beginning 
of September, and, very possibly, occasionally even earlier and 
later. I took a nest on the 29th April near Masuri; 
Mr. Brooks obtained eggs in May and June at Almorah ; 
Mr. G. Marshall at Masuri in July. I again took them 
in July and August near Simlah, and Captain Beavan found 
them as late as the 6th of September near the same station. 
So far as my own experience goes, the nests are always 
placed in very thick bushes or in low thick branches of some 
tree, the deodar appearing to be a great favourite. Those 
I found averaged about four feet from the ground, but I 
took a single one in a deodar- tree fully eight feet up. The 
bird, as a rule, conceals its nest so well that, though a loose 
and, for the size of the architect, a large structure, it is 
difficult to find, even when one closely examines the bush 
in which it is. The nest is nearly circular, with a deep 
cup-like cavity in the centre, reminding one much of that 
of Malacocercus canorus, and is constructed of dry grass and 
the fine stems of herbaceous plants, often intermingled with 
the bark of some fibrous plant, with a considerable number 
of dead leaves interwoven in the fabric, especially towards 
the base. The cavity is neatly lined with fine grass roots, 
or occasionally very fine grass. The cavity varies from 
o 2 
