trees in pursuit of ants or other minute insects. It likewise partakes, to 
some extent, of small seeds, some of which I have occasionally found in its 
stomach. To an ordinary observer, therefore, it is likely with such habits 
always to remain a stranger, but those to whom its insect like note, which 
sounds like the syllable 'quitze* sharply uttered at moderate intervals, is 
familiar, may frequently detect it in the vicinity of forest paths, at the 
sides of which it often appears for a moment, quickly darting across and eifc 
clinging to the upright trunk of a tree, while it utters a rapid little war¬ 
ble, and then darts into the surrounding vegetation. 
As with other birds in Ceylon which are denizens of thick jungle, I rind 
that scarcely any Europeans are acquainted with the Ant Thrush, although it 
is, in the limit of its range, quite a common bird, but at the same time of 
such retiring manners, and so difficult to hunt into the open, that its pre¬ 
sence is overlooked by thosb who'are unacquainted with its voice; while thoiB 
who are familiar with it will recognise its sharp little 'quitze 9 at every 
hundred yards in such quiet solitudes as the jungles of the Horton Plains 
and other similarly elevated spots. 
It is chiefly astir in the early part of the day, and its lively little 
song is at that time oftenest heard. It feeds entirely on the ground and 
among fallen timber, its strong, curved, hind claw enabling it to cling to 
wood in any position, and its stout legs affording it the power of threading 
its way quickly through the densest brakes. 
It is of dnsociable habits, shunning the companionship or any species out 
Alclppe Nigrifroris, with which I have found it once or twice .associating. 
Mr Holdsworth’s experience of its habits corresponds with my own. • He 
writes, 'Frequently it betrays its close neighbourhood by its 'cheep 11 once 
or twice repeated, and it will shew itself for a moment within two or three 
yards of one; then it is lost again in the thick jungle. When on the grouni 
it often jerks up its tail after the manner of the robin, but I have not 
observed this habit when it has been on the stems of the jungle plants, or 
creeping about among the dry sticks. 
NIDIFICATION 
The Ant Thrush breeds in March and April. Mr Bligh writes, ,r l found a 
nest at Newera Ellis.-in April 1870; It was placed in a thick cluster of bran¬ 
ches on, the top of-a somewhat densely foliaged small bush, which stood in a 
rather open space near the foot of a large tree; it was in shape a deep cup. 
composed of greenish mosb, lined with fibrous roots and the hair like appen¬ 
dages of the grey-moss which festoons the trees in such abundance at that 
