149.  Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton). The Black-capped Babbler.

Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton), Hume, Cat. no. 396 sex.

Mr. W. Davison writes:—­“I got one nest of this bird at Klang.  I was passing through some very dense jungle, where the ground was very marshy, when one of these birds rose from the ground about a couple of feet in front of me, and alighted on an old stump some few feet away.  On examining the place from which the bird rose, I found the nest placed at the base of a small clump of ferns, and concealed by a number of overhanging withered fronds of the fern.  The base of the nest, which rested on the ground, was composed of a mass of dried twigs, leaves, &c.; then came the real body of the nest, composed of coarse fern-roots, the egg-cavity being lined with finer roots and a number of hair-like fibres.  It looked compactly and strongly put together, but on trying to remove it, it all came to pieces.  When the bird saw me examining the nest it fluttered to within a couple of feet of me, twittering in a most vehement manner, feigning a broken wing to try and draw me away.  The nest contained only two eggs, which were slightly set.”

These eggs are extremely regular ovals, scarcely smaller, if at all, at one end than at the other.  The shell is very fine and fragile, but has only a slight gloss.  The ground-colour appears to have been creamy white, but the markings are so thickly set that little of this is anywhere visible.  First, pale inky-purple spots and clouds are thickly sprinkled over the surface, and over this the whole egg is freckled with a pale purplish brown.  They measured 0.82 in length by 0.62 and 0.63 in breadth.

151.  Drymocataphus tickelli. Tickell’s Babbler.

Trichastoma minus, Hume; Hume, Cat. no. 387 bis.

Major C.T.  Bingham found the nest of this bird in the valley of the Meplay river, Tenasserim, and he says:—­“On the 15th March I found a little domed nest made of dried bamboo-leaves, and lined with fine roots, placed in a cane-bush a foot or so above the ground.  It contained three tiny white eggs, with minute pink dottings chiefly at the larger end; one egg, however, is nearly pure white.”

One of these eggs taken by Major Bingham on the 15th March is a very regular, somewhat elongated oval.  The shell very fine and delicate, and fairly glossy.  The ground is china-white, and it is everywhere speckled and spotted, nowhere very thickly, but most so in a zone near one end, with pale ferruginous.  It measured 0.67 by 0.51.

160.  Turdinus abbotti (Bl.). Abbott’s Babbler.

Trichastoma abbotti (Bl.), Jerd.  B. Ind. ii, p. 17.