284 TIIMALUD.T-. undergrowth aud, less often, bamboo-jungle. The eggs number from two to four. In colour they are white or creamy-white, smudged and blotched with yellowish brown and with a few darker, almost black, spots and lines. The breeding season is from February to May. Thirty eggs average 20*5 x 15"9 mm.
Habits. The birds of this genus are more typically Timaliine in their habits than Alcippe, less so than Rhopocichla. They collect in small flocks of live to ten birds, haunt brushwood and low forest and feed wholly on insects which they obtain principally on the ground. Davison says that their note is like "chir-chit-chit-chit," constantly repeated.
(298) Schoeniparus dubius mandellii.
The Assam Tit-Babbler.
- Schceniparus mandellii Godw.-Aust., A. M. N.H., (4) xviii, p. 33 (1876) (Naga Hillsj; Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 169.
Vernacular names. Dao-chitter (Cachari).
Description. Differs from the last in having the upper plumage more olive and the chin and throat buff like the centre of the
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Fig. 53.—Head of S. d. mandellii.
breast; the black supercilium and black markings of the head and upper back more pronounced; and the sides of the neck are distinctly striped with black and buff.
Colours of soft parts as in S. d. duJdus.
Measurements. Wing r:)^] to 64 mm.; tail about 62 mm.; tarsus 25 mm.; oilmen 12 mm.
Distribution. Assam, Chin Hills and AV. Burma.
Nidification. This handsome little Babbler breeds in great numbers during April, May and June at all elevations above 3,000 and fully up to 6,000 feet. It may be found in almost any kind of cover but prefers forest with an undergrowth of bushes, bracken and raspberry vines. The nest is practically invariably placed on the ground, generally under the protection of some thick patch of cover and always on a more or less sloping bank. The materials used are dead leaves mixed with bracken, grass, roots etc. and the shape is either a deep, semi-domed cup or a
