Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler Pnoepyga albiventer
Etymology:
Nominate:
- Pnoepyga : Greek Word pnoe– puff; puge– rump { Puff Rumped}
- Albiventer: Latin word albus white; venter- belly { White bellied}
Sub-species:
- P.a. pallidior: Latin name for Pale ( Palid)
Distribution in India:
- Nominate – East Central Nepal to Bhutan and North Eastern Indian hill states (except Meghalaya)
- P.a. pallidior – North India (West Himachal Pradesh)
Description: Size of 8·5–10 cm; 19–23 g. It is a small, almost tailless olive-backed babbler with pale scaling below. It comes in two morphs. The nominate race pale morph (“white-scaled”) has crown and upperparts brownish-olive with vague dark scaling and small buff spotting, head side is brownish-olive with buff-white shaft streaks, chin and throat are stony white with slight dark scaling, breast and belly are stony white, each feather with blackish-brown chevron-shaped centre and more rounded narrow dark margin producing very scaly effect, flanks the same but white replaced by pale olive-grey. The iris is brown or dark brown; bill is horn-brown, paler below. The legs are horn-brown or brownish-flesh. The dark morph (“ochre-bellied”) has base colour of upperparts olive-brown, and white below replaced with fulvous. Both the sexes are similar. The juvenile is warm rufous-brown without markings above and below, greyish-olive in pale morph, golden-brown in dark morph. The race pallidior is similar to nominate, but buffier on sides of head and neck, throat is generally less scaled.
Habitat: It is found near water in undergrowth in damp shady cool broadleaf, fir, hemlock and birch forest, also forest edge, wet ravines, the neighbourhood of streams, boulder-strewn slopes, waist-high fern growth and nettles. It is found from 2000–4000 m in summer, some birds descending to 275 m in winter.
Food Habits: It eats insects and seeds. It is solitary in winter and in pairs during breeding season. It is mostly terrestrial. It creeps about in dense tangled undergrowth, nervously flicking wings, searching for insects among the mulch, roots, fern stems and moss-covered fallen logs.
Breeding habits: They breed in Mar–Aug. The nest is a globular structure, entrance two-thirds up one side. The nest is made of green moss and rootlets, embedded in existing moss on bank, under moss-clad rock, or among moss growing on trunk of large tree. They lay a clutch of 2–5 eggs. The incubation is done by both sexes. The incubation period is 12–14 days.