About Pomatorhinus horsfieldii Sykes, 1832
Pomatorhinus horsfieldii Sykes, 1832, commonly called the Indian scimitar-babbler, is a 22 cm long bird. Its most distinctive feature is a long down-curved yellow bill that is blackish at the base of the upper mandible. It has a striking head pattern: a long white supercilium sits above a broad black band that runs through the eye. Its white throat and breast contrast with dark greyish brown plumage on its upperside, and dark grey to black plumage on most of its underside. The tail is broad, long, and graduated, while the wings are short and round. The species is a weak flier, so it is rarely seen flying in open areas. The long down-curved yellow bill is used to search through leaf litter and bark for food, which is mainly insects and berries. Indian scimitar-babblers prefer dense vegetation, so they can be difficult to observe. Like many other babblers, they are noisy birds, and their characteristic bubbling calls are often the best indication of their presence. Their call is made up of a loud fluty oop-pu-pu-pu immediately followed by a krukru; the second note is produced by the female, and the male-female duet is accurately synchronized. Leucistic plumages have been recorded for this species. In distribution, it is the only scimitar babbler found in Peninsular India, and occurs south of a line running between Rajasthan and Orissa. The Indian scimitar-babbler is a non-migratory resident breeder. Its main habitat is forest and secondary growth in hilly regions. It feeds on insects on the ground or on vegetation, hopping along the ground and turning over leaves or probing in leaf litter to find prey. It may sometimes join mixed-species foraging flocks. It breeds from December to May. Its nest is a large, loose, globular mass of foliage, concealed in a bush on or low to the ground. It usually lays three eggs, though clutch size can range from two to four, and the eggs are pure white.
