Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/199

Rh like that of I. rufogularis, but seems to be generally placed in a low bush, or a tangle of canes or raspberry bushes quite close to the ground. The eggs, two or three in number, are pure white, fragile, with a very slight gloss, and 48 average about 26·3 × 19·0 mm.

Habits. I found the bird in the Khasia and Cachar Hills in rhododendron and stunted oak forest, going about in pairs or small family parties in the dense undergrowth. They were just as loath to take to wing as other members of this subfamily, and when forced to do so Huttered and sailed alternately to the next bit of cover, into which they tumbled headlong rather than settled. They kept up a continuous chatter, but were not particularly noisy. Those examined by me had eaten both insects and seeds, several containing masses of a small red ant, a most vicious biter.


 * Ianthocincla victoriæ Rippon, Bull. B. O. C, xvi, p. 47 (1906) (Mt. Victoria).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Differs from the Cachar bird in being more olive and less red above and in having the lower parts much paler and whiter, each feather being edged with white.

Colours of soft parts as in the last.

Measurements. Total length 244 mm.; wing 94 mm. (Rippon).

Distribution. South Chin Hills.

Nidification unknown.

Habits. A bird of high elevations, only found between 7,000 and 10,000 feet.

The genus Trochalopterum differs from the preceding genera in having the base of the bill quite devoid of all bristles and hairs, the nostrils and their membranes being free and exposed. In other respects it is quite typical of the subfamily.

The bill varies a good deal in length and stoutness, and the nostrils in some are oval and exposed, whilst in others they are long and narrow and partly covered by a membrane. Oates and Harington point out that those birds with short, stout bills lay unspotted eggs, whilst those with slender bills and long linear nostrils lay spotted eggs. This is true, but, on the other hand, birds of the group of Laughing-Thrushes with the curious wing-speculum, probably an older feature than bill and nostril, all lay