Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/198

160 Distribution. From Kumaon westwards through Kashmir and the N.W. Himalayas.

Nidification. Breeds in Garhwal and the Simla Hills in May and June between 6,000 and 8,000 feet elevation. Nest and eggs are like those of the Sikkim bird, but the former are made more of twigs, and tendrils are not so invariably or plentifully used. Six eggs average 26·3 x 18·7 mm.

Habits. Like those of the other subspecies. Hutton found in the stomach of a bird he examined "sand, seeds and the remains of wasps."

Vernacular names. Dao-gajao-i-ba (Cachari).

Description. Forehead, crown, nape, hind neck and sides, and the whole neck reddish brown with pale streaks; rump paler, without pale shafts; upper tail-coverts and middle pair of tail-feathers rufous; other feathers black with white tips and with the bases suffused with rufous on the outer webs; wing-coverts and inner secondaries reddish brown, the latter and the longer coverts tipped with white and with subterminal dusky marks; outer webs of the earlier primaries grey, those of the other quills reddish brown; lores dusky; ear-coverts dark rufous-brown with pale shafts; chin, throat and breast rufous-brown, indistinctly barred with dusky and whitish; remainder of lower plumage rufous-brown, with broad and distinct white bars preceded by a dusky line; under tail-coverts narrowly tipped with white.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or lake-brown; bill dark horny, blackish at the tip, paler on lower mandible; legs dull fleshy- or livid-brown.

Measurements. Total length about 250 mm.; wing 100 to 105 mm.; tail about 120 mm.; tarsus about 35 mm.; culmen 20 mm.

Distribution. Khasia, Cachar and Naga Hills. Hengdang Peak is on the watershed between the Cachar Hills and Manipur, and doubtless it will be found also in the higher hills of the latter state.

Nidification. This rare Laughing-Thrush breeds throughout its range between 4,000 and 8,000 feet, principally about 6,000 feet, but it is not very uncommon on the higher hills about Cherrapunji in the breeding season at little over 4,000 feet. It breeds in the end of April and May, and possibly sometimes has a second laying as I have a nest taken in August with fresh eggs. The nest is