The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie vary very much in size
and shape, and somewhat in colour. Some are considerably elongated
ovals, with a marked pyriform tendency. Others are particularly broad
ovals for this class of egg. The shell is fine and compact, and as a
rule they seem to have a fine gloss; but one or two specimens almost
want this. In colour they are a pale, clear, slightly greenish blue,
unspotted and unmarked. In length they vary from 1·01 to 1·13, and in
breadth from 0·81 to 0·9, but the average of thirteen is 1·07 by 0·85.
76. Garrulax albigularis (Gould). _The White-throated
Laughing-Thrush_.
Garrulax albogularis (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p, 38; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 411.
The White-throated Laughing-Thrush breeds throughout the lower
southern ranges of the Himalayas from Assam to Afghanistan at
elevations of from 4000 to nearly 8000 feet. They lay from the
commencement of April to the end of June. The nest varies in shape
from a moderately deep cup to a broad shallow saucer, and from 5 to 7
or even 8 inches in external diameter, and from less than 2 to nearly
4 inches in depth internally. Coarse grass, flags, creepers, dead
leaves, moss, moss- and grass-roots, all at times enter more or less
largely into the composition of the nest, which, though sometimes
wholly unlined, is often neatly cushioned with red and black fern and
moss-roots. The nests are placed in small bushes, shrubs, or trees, at
heights of from 3 to 10 feet, sometimes in forks, but more often,
I think, on low horizontal branches, between two or three upright
shoots.
Three is, I think, the regular complement of eggs, and this is the
number I have always found when the eggs were much incubated. I have
not myself observed that this species breeds in company, nor can I
ever remember to have taken two nests within 100 yards of each other.