Chatarrhoea caudata, Dumeril.
438. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 67; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 472 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 401 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 133 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 68.
THE STRIATED BUSH BABBLER.
Length, 9 ; wing, 3 ; tail, 4.5 ; tarsus, 1; bill at front, 0.6.
Bill pale brownish-horny ; irides red-brown ; legs dull-yellow.
Above pale ashy-brown, with numerous dusky striae, each feather being centred brown; tail pale olive-brown, obsoletely barred with dusky; beneath the chin white, the rest of the plumage rufescent-ashy, darkest on the flanks.
The Striated Bush Babbler is very common throughout the region ; it is a permanent resident, and breeds almost the whole year through. I have personally taken eggs in every month except December. The nests are generally placed in thorny bushes, two or three feet from the ground ; they are fairly well made, deep, cup-shaped nests, composed of grass stems and roots, occasionally lined with finer grass. The eggs, three or four in number, are of a moderately elongated oval shape, but spheriform varieties are not uncommon. They are of a glossy spotless pale-blue color, and average 0.82 inches in length by about 0.64 in breadth.
Eggs of Coccystes jacobinus are often found in these nests, and are distinguished by their more globular shape.
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