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It is confined to
elevations above 3,000 feet, but is common in suitable country above this height. It loves
nillu(Strobilanthes)
and elephant grass (dwarf bamboo), and may be confindently expected where these plants
from dense brakes of undergrowth in the damp hil forests. It lives usually in pairs and
some times it might easily be mistaken for a mouse. It feeds on small insects, being
partial to soft-bodied green crickets (Tettigoniidae), which it finds
hiding on the undersides of leaves.
The
nest is large for the size of the bird, and it composed of moss, grass, scrub-bamboo
leaves, etc., with a fairly deep cup lined with fine fibers. The breeding season is
February to May, with a secondary season in September. The two eggs, which are fragile,
are described as 'oval and only slightly pointed at the small end. The colour...
whitish-pink, thickly powered all over with rather deeper purplish markings and with one
or two long hair-lines at deep barown the larger end. Size .9 by .67' (about 22.6 X 16.7
mm.) |
