MALACOCEECUS STEIATUS. 
(THE COMMON BABBLER.) 
Malacocercm striatus, Swains. Zool. 111. 2nd ser. pi. 127 (1833); Jerclon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 59 
(1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 300; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 449; Legge, J. A. S. 
(Ceylon B.), 1870-71, p. 39 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 458. 
Malacocercus hengalensis, Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 122 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. 
Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 271. 
The “ Seven Brothers ” (so called from its associating in flocks of six or seven), Bust-bird, 
I)irt-bird, Bung-Thrush, Mud-bird, Europeans in Ceylon. P astro manduco] Pastru 
bragaru (Layard), Portuguese in Ceylon. 
Bemelitcha, Sinhalese ; Pimil, Tam. (Layard). 
Adult male and female. Length O'O to 9'2 inches ; wing 4’0 to 4-2 ; tail 4-0 ; tarsus 1'3 ; middle toe and claw I’O to 
I’Oo ; hind toe and claw O'S ; bill to gape 0'95 to I'O. 
Iris white, or white faintly tinged with green ; bill fleshy white or yellowish white ; legs and feet sickly yellow or 
whitish in some, tinged in parts with yellowish ; eyelid yellowish. 
Head, upper surface, entire neck, and chest brownish ashy grey, the brown portions of the feathers being darkest on 
the lower part of the hind neck, interscapular region, and chest ; the edges grey, contrasting with the dark hue, 
many of the feathers likewise with pale mesial striae ; the wing-coverts more uniform than the back ; quills and 
terminal portion of tail-feathers glossy brown, the outer webs of the former pale greyish at the edges, showing 
conspicuously when the wing is closed ; basal part of tail olive-grey, and the dark portion cross-rayed with the 
same hue, which gradually blends into the brown ; lores greyish ; lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts pale 
rufescent, blending into the brownish grey of the chest and flanks ; imder wing-coverts tinged with rufescent, 
the inner edges of the quills at the base of the same hue. 
Individuals vary inter se in the amount of cross-raying of the tertials and tail-feathers ; but this character is always 
most perceptible when the feathers are new ; it is plainly indicated in the back -feathers of some examples. 
Young. Immature birds are very similar to adults. Mr. Holdsworth remarks that the depth of the strim varies with 
age, and that in a well-grown young bird there is not a trace of stria; on the tertiaries, and they are very indistinct 
on the tail. 
Ohs. This Babbler is not very aptly named striatus, for this term is usually held to signify longitudinal lines or central 
.streaks to feathers ; in the present case, however, it was applied by Swainson to the species in question to denote 
the transverse rays which cross the scapular, tertial, and tail-feathers, and which is a prevailing character in this 
family of Thrushes. His figure (pi. 127, 2nd series, of his ‘ Hlustrations ’) represents these transverse stria; more 
pronounced than they ever really are ; for in the drawing they appear as hlaclc lines, well defined, on a greyish- 
brown ground. It would appear that the name existed in a MS. form prior to Swainson’s description of the 
species ; he writes of it, “ The present species we received from Ceylon, but without any notice of its habits • and 
the specimen is in the Paris Museum, under the manuscript name of Graeula striata, from the circumstance of 
the scapular quills and also the tail-feathers being marked \vith transverse lines of a darker brown, varying in 
intensity according to the rays of light.” 
This species is very closely allied to M. malaharicus, the Jungle -Babbler, found in the peninsula of India. It was formerly 
thought to be peculiar to the island, but specimens in my collection from Eamisserum Island are not to be sepa- 
rated from Ceylonese examples; they measure from 3-95 to 4-2 in the wing; the lower parts and under wing 
are slightly more fulvous than the Ceylonese, and the tail-feathers are faintly tipped with the same ; in one 
specimen the lateral pair have a very distinct rufescent tip ; as regards stria; and the pale wing-edging, they are 
identical. Two specimens received from the same locality are partial albinos. 
M. terricolor, the Bengal Babbler, has the brown of the back and wings more ruddy than in striatus, and the under 
surface paler ; the throat is grey, passing into sandy fulvous on the chest, and thence into a more albescent hue on 
