tnut-red, and on each cheek there is a patch of similar
hue. The general appearance of the streaked laughing-thrush is that
of one of the seven sisters who is wearing her best frock. Like their
sisters of the plains, Himalayan streaked laughing-thrushes go about
in small flocks and are exceedingly noisy. Sometimes a number of them
assemble, apparently for the sole purpose of holding a speaking
competition. They are never so happy as when thus engaged.

Streaked laughing-thrushes frequent gardens, and, as they are
inordinately fond of hearing their own voices, it is certainly not
their fault if they escape observation. By way of a nest they build
a rough-and-ready cup-shaped structure in a low bush or on the ground;
but, as Hume remarked, "the bird, as a rule, conceals the nest so
well that, though a loose, and for the size of the architect, a large
structure, it is difficult to find, even when one closely examines
the bush in which it is."

Three other species of laughing-thrush must be numbered among common
birds of the Himalayas, although they, like the heroine of _A Bad
Girl's Diary_, are often heard and not seen. The white-throated
laughing-thrush (_Garrulax albigularis_) is a handsome bird larger
than a myna. Its general colour is rich olive brown. It has a black
eyebrow and shows a fine expanse of white shirt front. It goes about
in large flocks and continually utters a cry, loud and plaintive and
not in the least like laughter.

The remaining laughing-thrushes are known as the rufous-chinned
(_Ianthocincla rufigularis_) and the red-headed (_Trochalopterum
erythrocephalum_). The former may be distinguished from the
white-throated species by the fact that the lower part only of its
throat is white, the chin being red. The red-headed laughing-thrush
has no white at all in the under parts. The next member of the family
of the Crateropodidae that demands our attention is the rusty-cheeked
scimitar-babbler (_Pomatorhinus erythrogenys_).

Scimitar-babblers are so called because of the long, slender,
compressed beak, which is curved downwards like that of a sunbird.

Several species of scimitar-babbler occur in the Himalayas. The above
mentioned is the most abundant in the Western Himalayas. This species
is known as the _Banbakra_ at Mussoorie. Its bill is 1-1/2 inch long.
The upper plumage is olive brown. The forehead, cheeks, sides of the
neck, and thighs are chestnut-red, as is a patch under the tail. The
chin a