Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 127
MALACOCIRCUS Striatus.
Striped Babbler.
MALACOCIRCUS striatus.
Striated Babbler.
Family Merulidæ. Sub-fam. Crateropodinæ. Sw. North. Zool. 2, p 156. Genus Malacocircus.
Generic Character.
Bill rasorial, i. e. short, high at the base, conspicuously arched from the front, where the feathers are divided; tip obsoletely notched. Tarsi thick, moderate; the scales entire. Wings and tail rounded.
Sub-genera. Megalurus. Pomatorhinus. Horsf. Malacocircus. Leptonyx. Sw.
Specific Character.
Entirely light brown: wings and tail darker, the quills marked by transverse dark lines: bill and feet yellow: margin of the quills changeable greyish white.
Gracula striata. Mus. Paris.
The Babblers, or long legged Thrushes, (forming the sub-family Crateropodinæ, Sw.) are almost exclusively confined to the warmer latitudes of the old world; extending to the north as far as Egypt, and to the south over the greatest part of Australia. Like all birds which belong to the natatorial type, the majority of the species live in the vicinity of water. Their voice, like that of Donacobius, Sw. is particularly discordant, and many of them appear to be gregarious. The present species we received from Ceylon, but without any notice of its habits: another specimen is in the Paris Museum, under the manuscript name of Gracula striata, from the circumstance of the scapular quills, and also the tail feathers, being marked with transverse lines of a darker brown, varying in intensity according to the rays of light.
We have not yet sufficiently worked out this intricate and little known group: the very existence of which was first announced in North. Zool. 2, p. 156. According to our present views, the genera yet characterized appear to be Crateropus, Malacocircus, Pellornium, and Timalia. To Crateropus, we at present refer the sub-genera Grallina, Vieil, Cinclosoma, H. & V. and Aipunemia, Sw.; while those of Malacocircus are probably Megalurus, H. Pomatorhinus, H. and Leptonyx, Sw. Under the genus Timalia, we place Psophodes and Dasyornis, H. & V.