Streaked  Wren Babbler    Gypsophila  brevicaudata

                                              Sub species in India : G.b.striata

Etymology :

• Gypsophila : Greek Word gupsos  chalk; philos  lover { Limestone babbler}

• Brevicaudata: Latin Word brevis –short;  caudatus –tailed  { Short  tailed}

• Striata : Latin word for striated 

Vernacular Name: Cachar: Dao-pufli

Distribution in India: Resident in North East hills of India.

Description: Size of 12–17 cm; Weight of 17·3–22·7 g. It is a smallish, rather short-tailed brown babbler with heavy blackish streaking above, dull below with streaked whitish throat and breast. The nominate has ochraceous-brown crown and upperparts, blackish edges of feathers forming broad long black lines, fluffy rump is unpatterned dark ochraceous-brow. The upperwing is dark brown with warm olive-brown fringes and tiny whitish tips (wing spots) on some greater coverts and most flight-feathers. The tail is dark chestnut-brown. The face, lores, supercilium, ear-coverts, cheek and submoustachial area are dull greyish with buff and brown mottling; chin to upper breast is greyish white with thick, soft-edged but neat olive-brown streaks, shading into dull rufous on breast side and breast. These shading to streaky dull rufous on lower flanks, belly, thighs and vent. The iris is red, brown or chocolate-red. The bill is dark brownish horn, lower mandible is grey. The legs are dark brown to greyish-flesh. Both the sexes are similar. Juvenile is rather uniform dark brown, with pale shaft streaks on crown to upper back, small dull wing spots, paler chin and throat centre, slightly paler and warmer underparts. Race striatus found in India is buffier above than nominate, with buff wing spots, slightly duller flanks and vent.

Habitat: It is found in broadleaf evergreen forest, often near rocky outcrops; limestone areas. It is found at 300–2100 m in India.

Food habits: It eats  Insects, grubs and small molluscs. Forages in pairs or small groups on ground, just above ground in dense or tangled vegetation, or around rocks and boulders.

Breeding habits:  They  breed in Jan–Jul. The nest is an upright dome with entrance near top, a semi-dome or a deep cup made of dead leaves, dead bracken, grasses, rootlets, tendrils, semi-decayed bracken and fern fronds, and moss, lined with dry dead leaves or fine, pale hair-like material. The nest is often placed on ground, generally between boulders, recess in roadside or trailside bank, wedged in hollow near base of tree, or on mossy bank; often in damp situation, with outside of nest often sodden. They lay a clutch of 2–4 eggs. Incubation is done by both sexes