176. Mixornis rubricapillus.
The Yellow-breasted Babbler.
Motacilla rubicapilla, Tick. J. A. S. B. ii, p. 570 (1833). Mixornis chloris (Hodgs.), Blyth, Cat. p. 149. Mixornis rubicapillus (Tick.), Horsf. &.Cat. i, p. 229; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 23; Wald. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 547; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 376; Hume, N. & E. p. 245 ; Ball, 8. F. ii, p. 408; Hume, 8. F. iii, p. 118; Oates, 8. F. v, p. 152; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 635 ; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 266, 514; Hume, Cat. no. 395 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 50; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. vii, p. 578; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 142; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. i, p. 115.
The Yellow-breasted Wren-Babbler, Jerd.
Coloration. Extreme point of forehead and the lores yellow with black shafts, continued back as a uniform yellow supercilium ; crown pale ferruginous, blending on the nape with the olive-green of the upper plumage and sides of neck; ear-coverts dull yellow with pale shafts; cheeks, chin, throat, and upper breast yellow, with black shafts; centre of breast and abdomen plain yellow; remainder of lower plumage dull ashy yellow.
Iris dull white; eyelids plumbeous; bill horny brown ; legs fleshy horn-colour; claws yellowish. The iris appears to vary from white to yellow.
Length about 5 ; tail 2.1; wing 2.3; tarsus .7 ; bill from gape .65.
Distribution. Chutia Nagpur; Sikhim and along the base of the Himalayas to the extreme east of Assam, and thence south through Eastern Bengal and its adjacent hill-tracts to Arrakan and Tenasserim, in which latter division this bird is found to a short distance below Tavoy, where it meets the next species.
Hodgson figures this bird (no. 699), but it is not clear whether it occurs in Nepal or not. In the Pinwill Collection, however, there is a specimen from the N.W. Himalayas, and this locality is probably either Kumaon or Garhwal.
Habits, &c. This species is usually found in tree- and bush-jungle creeping about the branches, and it does not appear to feed on the ground. I have never seen it except on trees. It has a monotonous note, which is constantly uttered throughout the day. It breeds in May and June, constructing a round nest of grass or bamboo-leaves in a thick bush not many feet above the ground. The eggs, usually three in number, are white speckled with red, and measure .68 by .5.
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