Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/207

Rh Colours of soft parts. Legs and feet brown with a purplish tinge; bill horny dark brown to practically black; iris brown (juv.) to deep crimson or lac-red; orbital skin dull leaden-dusky.

Measurements. Total length about 230 mm.; wing 81 to 93mm.; tail about 100 mm.; tarsus about 32 mm.; culmen about 18 mm.

Distribution. Nepal to the extreme east of Assam, North of the Brahmaputra.

Nidification. Breeds between 3,000 and 5,000 feet and sometimes rather higher in the months of April to June, making a compact, deep cup of grass, leaves, roots and moss, lined with the latter and measuring about 4½ inches to 5½ inches in diameter by nearly as much in depth. It is generally placed in bushes in rather dense and moist forest, sometimes fairly high up but more often at 3 or 4 feet from the ground. The eggs number 2 or 3, very rarely 4, and are very beautiful, the ground-colour being a deep Thrush-egg blue with dark maroon and red-black lines, blotches and dots, the first being most numerous. Fifty eggs average 25·9 × 18·5 mm.

Habits. This species haunts forests and secondary growth rather than scrub-jungle, at elevations between 3,000 and 6,000 feet, wandering as low down as 2,000 feet in winter. They are sometimes found singly or in pairs, but more often in small parties of four or five, keeping much to the undergrowth and lower trees and also hopping about and feeding on the ground, eating insects of all kinds and also certain seeds. Their flight is feeble and their notes consist of a great variety of conversational calls both harsh and sweet, with an occasional louder call when the birds get separated.


 * Trochalopterum phœniceum bakeri Hartert, Bull. B. O. C, xxxiii, p. 10 (1909) (Laisung, N. Cachar).

Vernacular names. Dao-yao-gajao (Cachari).

Description. Differs from the preceding bird in being paler both above and below and in having the ashy-grey wash on the abdomen much more pronounced.

Colours of soft parts as in the last bird.

Measurements slightly smaller than the last, the wing averaging about 85 mm. as against 90 mm. in that bird.

Distribution. Hills South of the Brahmaputra, Manipur and Lushai Hills.

Nidification. Breeds in May and June between 3,500 and 5,000 feet. The nest is a well-made cup, similar to that of the last bird but more often placed quite close to the ground. Eggs