The principal months are March to May before the rains break and again in July to September. The nest is a fairly neat cup made of grass, with roots, grass, bark and other fibrous material to a lesser extent mixed with it. There is either no lining or a very slight one of fine grass stems. It may be placed in almost any position low down; generally in a thorny bush, but also in cactus hedges, orange-trees, babools, tufts of grass, tangles of canes or vines, creepers over trellis-work or any similar site. It measures roughly about 5" × 2½" externally by about 3" × 2", or rather less, inside. The eggs number three or four, in South India sometimes only two. They are of the typical dark glossy-blue colour common to the genus, in shape broad, blunt ovals, whilst the average of 200 eggs is 21.2 × 16.1 mm.
Habits. In the North of India this is one of the most common and familiar of birds, entering and breeding in compounds and all round about villages, but it is found wherever there is open country with sufficient cover in the way of bushes, hedges and scrub. It does not haunt forests, but is often found in high grass- covered plains when they are dry. In the South of India it is said to be less confiding in its habits and rather to shun the vicinity of human beings. Its flight and manners generally are similar to those of the last bird, but it is less noisy. Its voice is described by Jerdon as a "low, undertoned warbling whistle" and it also has a constant soft chattering.
(193) Argya caudata huttoni.
The Afghan Babbler.
Malacocercus huttoni Blyth, J. A. S. B., xvi, p. 476 (1847) (Candahar).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Similar to the last bird but much paler and greyer, the central marks less defined and not so dark. It is also a trifle larger.
Colours of soft parts as in the last bird.
Measurements. Wing 83 to 95 mm.; tail 125 to 135 mm.
Distribution. Afghanistan, Baluchistan and S.E. Persia. A specimen from "the Jay River Hills," Sind, is a very typical example of this race, but other specimens from the plains of Sind are true caudata. I cannot separate Hume's eclipes.
Nidification and Habits do not appear to differ from those of the Indian bird.
(194) Argya gularis.
The White-throated Babbler.
Chatarrhoea gularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B., xxiv, p. 478 (1855) (E. side of Bay of Bengal).
Argya gularis. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 107
Vernacular names. Zay-we (Burmese).
