BRACHYPTERYX MONTANA. 
I met with the Brachypteryx montana in one situation only, at an elevation 
of about 7000 feet above the level of the ocean. Like other animals already 
mentioned in this Work, it is probably found on all the mountain peaks of Java, 
which are covered with thick forests, accommodated to its peculiar habits. The 
recurrence of several quadrupeds and birds, at a certain elevation, is as regular in 
this Island as that of many plants and insects. Although local in its residence, our 
bird is very numerous on Mount Prahu ; and in my daily excursions I uniformly 
observed, and occasionally surprised it in its short sallies among the openings of the 
forest It is chiefly found on the lowest branches of trees, or on the earth. The 
shortness of its wings incapacitates it for elevated or distant flights, and its motions 
are low, short, and made with great exertion. It lives in the thickest coverts : here 
it forms its nest on the ground, and feeds on the larvas of insects, worms, &c. 
Our bird is a delightful resident in the forests of Mount Prahu, which, in the 
luxuriance of its vegetation and gloomy thickets, is probably not surpassed in 
any portion of the globe. It utters, almost without interruption, a varied song. 
Its common note is a quickly reiterated babbling, resembling that of the Curruca 
garrula of Brisson, and other birds of this family ; it also has a protracted plaintive 
note, but it sometimes rises to higher and melodious warblings, which, in the 
general silence of these elevated regions, afford an inexpressible sensation of delight 
to the mind of the solitary traveller. 
