a little more than, three quarters the length of the head, straight and notched at the tip; the nostrils are not overhung by hairs and the rictal bristles are very short.
Key to Species and Subspecies.
A. Breast boldly streaked with dark brown.
a. Mantle not streaked.
a'. Crown rufous P. ruficeps ruficeps, p. 238.
b'. Crown pale chestnut P.r. subochraceum, p. 239.
c'. Crown dark chestnut P. r. granti, p. 240.
b. Mantle streaked with dark brown.
d'. Upper back streaked with dark brown. a''. Less olive, more rufous P. r. mandellii, p. 240.
b''. Less rufous, more olive P. r. jonesi, p. 241.
e'. Upper back with no definite streaks. P. r. minuis, p. 242.
B. Breast streaked brown and greyish buff. . P. paulstre, p. 242.
C. Breast either not streaked at all or only obsoletely so.
c. Crown concolorous with back; forehead without pale shafts.
f'. Above fulvous olive-brown P. tickelli tickelli, p. 247.
g. Above rufescent olive-brown P. f. assamensis, p. 248.
d. Crown concolorous with back but forehead pale shafted.
h'. Breast tinged brownish P.ignotum ignotum, p. 243.
i'. Breast tinged bright rufous P. i. cinnamomeum, p. 244.
e. Crown darker than back.
j'. Cap nearly chocolate-brown P. fuscicapilliim fuscicapillum, p. 245.
k'. Cap olive-brown P.f. babaulti, p. 245.
l'. Cap black P. nigricapitcatum., p. 246.
(240) Pellorneum ruficeps ruficeps.
The Spotted Babbler.
- Pellorneum ruficeps Swains., F. Bor.-Am., Birds, p. 487 (1831) (Nilgiris); Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 141.
Vernacular names. Adavi-lika-jitta (Tel.).
Description. Torehead, crown and nape dull rufous; whole upper pluniiige and exposed parts of wings, sides of neck and tail olive-brown, the latter tipped with white; lores and an indistinct superciliuin creamy-white; sides of the head rufous, paler than the crown and mottled with black round the eye, and the ear- coverts streaked with brown : chin, throat and cheeks white; lower plumage white or pale fulvous white boldly streaked with black on the breast and flanks and suffused with olivaceous on the latter and thighs; under tail-coverts olive-brown edged with white.
Colours of soft parts. Iris red to crimson-lake, but cinnamon- brown in the youug; upper mandible dark brown, lower white to fleshy-white; legs, feet and claws fleshy-white.
