Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/312

 268 TIMALIIDÆK. Keij to Species and Subspecies. A. Fore crown rufous to chestnut; bill not red. a. Throat yellowish. [p. 268. a', llufous of crown extending to nape .. S. riificeps ruficeps, b'. Kutbus of crown conhued to th.it part S.r. hhamocmsis, p. 269. b. Throat whitisli. c'. Lores almost white; fore crown dull rulbus S'. r. riififruns, p. 269. (V. Lores yello'; fore crown bright I'lifous S. r. amhii/ua, p. 270. •B. Fore crown fulvous; bill red S. pyrrhops, p. 271. (-77) Stachyridopsis ruficeps ruficeps. Tun E-KD-HEADBD BaBBLEE. Stdcliyvidopsis ruficeps Blytli, J. A. S. B., xvi, p. 452 (1847) (Darjee- lingj; Blanf. & Oates, 1. p. 164.

Vernacular names. Syak-hirang-pho (Lepcha).

Description. Forehead, crown and nape bright chestnut, the forehead with obsolete dark shaft-stripes; h>res bright yellow; upper plumage, tail and exposed parts of wings olive-brown, tinged rufous; chin and up[)er throat pale yellow with conspicuous black shafts; sides of the head and neck and entire lower plumage fulvous yellow; the sides of the body, thighs, vent and under tail-coverts tinged with olivaceous.

Colours of soft parts. Iris golden-brown, red-brown or crimson; bill bluish plumbeous, darker above, paler and rather fleshy below; legs pale yellowish- or fleshy-brown.

Measurements. Total length about 120 to 125 mm.; wing 54 to 5S n]m. : tail about 50 to 52 mm.; tarsus about 17 to 18 mm.; culmen about 10 mm.

Distribution. 8ikkim and hills North of the Brahmaputra. Khasia and N. Cachai* Hills. Annam (Robinson i^- Jvhss). It must also occur in the intervening countries in extreme N. Burma but so far has not been recorded thence.

Nidification. This little Babbler breeds in Sikkim from 3,000 feet upwards and in the Assam Hills from 2,500 feet, commencing in early April and continuing until the end of June. The nest is a small, rather neatly made egg-shaped structure with the entrance at the top, or small end; outwardly it is composed of dead bamboo leaves but inside is more or less mixed with roots and fibrous material and generally lined with fine roots. The site selected is either a mass of twigs low down in a bamboo clump or some thick bush; rarely it is placed actually on the ground. The eggs, four in ntnnber, have a pearly white ground with faint specks and small blotches, generally disposed as a ring round the larger end and sparse or absent elsewhere. A few eggs mav be found which are pure white and equally seldom a clutch comparatively boldlj marked. The shape is a short, broad oval, the texture stout and glossy. Thirty eggs average about 15'8 x 12*4 mm.