Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/231

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TURDOIDES.
193

chin, throat, breast and flanks. The darker edging to the feathers also show up the central pale streaks more vividly.

Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in the last.

Distribution. India South of the habitat of T. t. terricolor.

Nidification and Habits similar to those of the Northern Babbler. Twenty eggs average about 23·8 × 18·6 mm.

(185) Turdoides terricolor sindianus.

The Sind Jungle-Babbler.

Turdoides terricolor sindianus Ticehurst, Bull. B. O. C, xl, p. 156 (1920)(Karachi, Sind).

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. Similar to terricolor but paler, upper parts greyer and with the dark streaks ill-defined or obsolete; throat paler dusky grey; belly paler cream-colour.

Colours of soft parts and Measurements as in the other two races.

Distribution. Sind, Western Rajputana (Mt. Aboo) and Punjab.

Nidification. Breeds in Sind in July and in the Punjab in April, May and June and apparently again in September. Twenty-one eggs average 24·1 × 17·9 mm.

Habits. Those of the species.

(186) Turdoides griseus griseus.

The White-headed Babbler.

Turdus griseus Gmel., Syst. Nat., i, p. 824 (1788) (Carnatic).
Crateropus griseus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 112.

Vernacular names. Khyr (Hindi); Chinda or Sida and Kalli-Karavi (Tel.).

Description. Whole upper part of head dingy greyish white; cheeks and ear-coverts brown; upper plumage ashy-brown, the feathers of the back with white shaft-stripes and a black streak on either web; quills black, narrowly edged on the outer webs with ashy; tail ashy-brown on the basal and dark brown on the terminal half, which is tipped with whitish; tail and inner secondaries cross-rayed with blackish; chin, throat and breast dull blackish, the feathers edged ashy; middle of abdomen fulvous; remainder of lower plumage brown.

The colour of the head varies greatly; in some specimens, obviously young, the head hardly differs from the back, and it varies from this colour to a dirty or creamy white.

Here and there very pale individuals are met with which have a strong erythristic tendency both above and below, two such from Travancore having bright rust-red patches on the back and breast;