Nidification. The Rufous-bellied Bubbler breeds from early June to the end of August and early September, making a ball-shaped nest of grass and bamboo leaves, lined with finer grass or a little hair, sometimes with no lining at all; in size it varies in diameter from 5 to 6 inches. Often the nest is placed in, or at the foot of, a clump of bamboos, at other times in grass, bushes or cactus hedges. The eggs number three or four, and are in shape short, blunt ovals with a smooth and rather glossy texture. The ground is white varying occasiojially to pink, and they are rather profusely marked all over with specks and blotches of light reddish to dark brown, generally more numerous at the larger end. Fifty eggs average 17·3 × 13·8 mm.
Habits. This little bird is a typical Babbler in all its ways. Though much more shy than the "Seven-Sisters" group, it has the same gregarious, cheertul habits, the same follow-my-leader style of clambering along from one tuft of grass or one bush to another and, like those birds, is very conversational and argumentative, though it indulges in softer notes and fewer quarrels. It prefers mixed scrub and grass, or grass alone, to other haunts, but may also be found in bamboo-jungle and thin forest or secondary growth.
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Fig. 40.—Head of D. a. albigularis.
(230) Dumetia albigularis albigularis.
The Small White-throated Babbler.
- Malacocercus albigularis Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvi, p. 453 (1847) (Mysore).
- Dumetia albigularis. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 134.
Vernacular names. Pandi-jitta (Tel.); Batitchia (Ceylon).
Description. Similar to the last, but with a pure white throat.
Colours of soft parts. Iris white to pale grey; bill fleshy, horny-brown on culmen; legs and feet pale fleshy or livid fleshy, claws horny.
Measurements. Total length about 150 to 155 mm.; wing 52 to 56 mm.; tail about 57 to 64 mm.; tarsus about 18 mm.; culmen about 12 to 13 mm.
Distribution. Ceylon and South-West India as far North as Belgaum.
Nidification. In Ceylon this little Babbler has two breeding seasons, and Mr. Wait has taken eggs from November to March
