156. Malacopterum magnum.
The Red-headed Tree-Babbler.
Malacopteron magnum, Eyton, P. Z. S. 1830, p. 103; Horsf. & 31. Cat. i, p. 225; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 270; Hume, Cat. no. 396 ter.; Oates, B. B. i, p. 55 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 31. vii, p. 564. Malacopteron majus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 461 (1847); id. Cat. p. 148, App. p. xxi; Tweedd. Ibis, 1877, p. 309.
Coloration. Forehead and crown bright ferruginous, the anterior feathers black-shafted and the posterior ones faintly edged with black ; lores and a broad supercilium grey, the middle of the feathers whitish; the whole nape black; ear-coverts fulvous brown with pale shafts; the whole upper plumage olive-brown, tinged with ferruginous on the rump, which colour also suffuses the upper tail-coverts and the outer webs of the tail-feathers; cheeks mottled grey and white; chin, throat, and. upper breast white, streaked with grey ; remainder of lower plumage greyish white.
Legs, feet, and claws blue, varying from pale plumbeous to pale smalt-blue; upper mandible dark horny brown, lower mandible and often the edges of the upper plumbeous blue or white tinged with blue, fading to bluish white at the tip; iris carmine to orange-red, changing probably according to age, as a younger bird has it pale sienna-brown (Hume Davison).
Length about 7; tail 3 ; wing 3.5 ; tarsus .9 ; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. The extreme south of Tenasserim, extending down the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo.
Habits, &c. According to Davison this bird hunts about trees and bushes in pairs or small parties, seldom or never descending to the ground. Its weak feet corroborate this description of its habits.
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