Genus RHOPOCICHLA Oates, 1889.
This geiuis differs from Alcippe in having the nostrils rounder, exposed and pierced in the anterior part of the membrane, and in having a shorter tail when compared with the wing. The bill is curved throughout; there are no hairs overhanging the nostrils but the rictal bristles are well developed. There is only one species in the genus confined to S. India and Ceylon, where it is represented by three races.
Rhopocichla atriceps.
Key to Subspecies.
| A. |
Crown and sides of the head black
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|
R. a. atriceps, p. 281. |
| B. |
Forehead and ear-coverts only black
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|
R. a. nigrifrons, p. 282. |
| C. |
Ear-coverts only blackish
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|
R. a. bourdilloni, p. 282. |
(294) Rhopocichla atriceps atriceps.
The Black-headed Babbler.
- Brachypteryx atriceps Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S., x, p. 250 (1839) (Trichoor).
- Rhopocichla atriceps. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 160.
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Forehead, crown, nape, ear-coverts and under the eye black; the whole upper plumage, wings and tail fulvous brown; lower plumage dull white, changing to olivaceous on the flanks and under tail-coverts.
Colours of soft parts. Iris bright yellow, pale orange or buff; bill dull black, commissure and lower mandible fleshy-pink; legs and feet pale plumbeous shaded in varying degree with fleshy-pink or dull purple.
Measurements. Total length about 140 mm.; wing 54 to 60 mm.; tail about 50 mm.; tarsus about 23 mm.; culmen abont 13 to 14 mm.
Distribution. The Nilgiris and hills of S.W. India, not Travancore.
Nidification. The Black-headed Babbler appears to breed in almost every month of the year from December to August and probably in the other three also. It makes an oval nest of grass lined with softer bits of the same which it places in bamboos, grass and reeds by roadsides through jungle, in reed-beds or scrub-jungle. It is found during the breeding season from the lower hills up to 6,000 feet.
The eggs, two in number, are pure white with numerous small spots and dots of dark purple-red scattered over the whole surface but generally more numerous at the larger end. The texture is hard and glossy. Twenty eggs average about 19·2 × 13·9 mm.
Habits. The birds of this genus are said to have much the same habits as those of Pellorneum, i. e. they are shy, rather skulking
