Chaetornis striatus

Chaetornis striatus, Jerd.

441. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 72 ; Butler, Aboo and Northern Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. V, p. 209.

THE GRASS BABBLER.

Length, 7 to 8.25 ; expanse, 11; wing, 3 to 3.5 ; tail, 3.75 ; tarsus, 1.1 ; bill at front, 0.48.

Bill dusky-brown above, fleshy brown beneath ; irides yellow-brown or dull grey in some ; legs brownish-fleshy.

Above olive or yellowish-brown, the feathers all centred with deep brown; tail brownish, banded with dusky externally, and dusky along the centre of each feather, which is tipped fulvous-white, and the outer feathers have further a dark brown sub-terminal band ; beneath the color is white, tinged with earthy-brown on the breast, and with a few dark specks.

The Grass Babbler occurs in Central India, and is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Deesa.

It breeds during the rains, constructing a roundish nest of dry grass, with the entrance on one side near the top, which it places on the ground in the centre of a low bush. The eggs, four in number, are white in color, speckled all over with reddish-brown and pale lavender, more profusely at the large end. They strongly recall eggs of Franklinia buchanani, but are much larger, equalling those of Chatarrhoea caudata.