Spotted Wren Babbler   Elachura Formosa

Etymology :

• Elachura : Greek Word elakhus – small, short;  oura – { Small Tailed}

• Formosa : Latin word for Beautiful

 Vernacular Name: Lepcha: Marchek-pho

 Distribution in India: Resident of Eastern Himalayas and North East hills of India.

Description: Size of 10 cm. It is a tiny short-tailed wren-babbler, brown with white speckles. The head, and neck side and upperparts are dull brown-grey, with well-spaced tiny spots that are buffy white on crown to mantle, whiter and slightly larger on remaining upperparts. The upperwing and tail are rusty brown with narrow blackish barring. The underside is buffy, peppered with tiny blackish dots and lines, and with dense stony-white mottling from chin to breast, spreading out more on remaining underparts, where blackish-brown spots and streaks also appear. The iris is brown; bill and legs are horn-brown. Both the sexes are similar. The juvenile is much darker than adult, but with stronger white spotting.

Habitat: It is found in undergrowth and dense thickets in dark temperate and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest; thick fern ground cover, open steep-sided gulleys with tangles of twigs and weeds, mossy rocks and decaying trunks of fallen trees and brushwood, often near stream or creek, long grass and scrub. It is found at 300–2400 m in India.

Food habits: It eats  Insects.

Breeding habits:  They breed in Apr–May.The nest is a  deep semi-domed cup of leaves, dead grass, roots etc., densely lined with feathers, placed on ground on bank, hidden in fallen rubbish or well concealed by undergrowth. They lay a clutch of 3–4 eggs.