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The members of the flock scream and chatter and make discordant sounds which some might deem to resemble laughter. Ianthocincla ocellata. The white-spotted laughing-thrush. This is the Eastern counterpart of Ianthocincla rufigularis. It has no white in the throat, and the upper plumage is spotted with white. It is found only at high elevations in summer. Trochalopterum chrysopterum.
I have seen one of these birds fly to a branch in a tree, uttering its curious call, and then hop on to another branch in the same tree. Scarcely has it left the first branch when a second laughing-thrush flies to it; then a fourth, a fifth, and so on; so that the birds look as though they might be playing "Follow the man from Cook's." The black-throated jay is noisy even for a sociable bird.
Three other species of laughing-thrush must be numbered among common birds of the Himalayas, although they, like the heroine of A Bad Girl's Diary, are often heard and not seen. Its general colour is rich olive brown. It has a black eyebrow and shows a fine expanse of white shirt front.
The eastern yellow-winged laughing-thrush. This is perhaps the most common bird about Darjeeling. Parties hop about the roads picking up unconsidered trifles. The forehead is grey, as is much of the remaining plumage. The back of the head is bright chestnut. The throat is chestnut-brown. The wings are chestnut and bright yellow. Trochalopterum squamatum. The blue-winged laughing-thrush.
Since most species of babblers are notoriously birds of limited distribution, it is not surprising that the kinds common in the Eastern Himalayas should not be the same as those that are abundant west of Nepal. Garrulax leucolophus. The Himalayan white-crested laughing-thrush. This species has a large white crest. It goes about in flocks of about a score.
When the flock is stationary the note is a comparatively low one; but when an individual makes up its mind to fly any distance, say ten or a dozen yards, it gives vent to a louder call, so as to inform its companions that it is moving. This sound seems to induce others to follow its lead. This is especially noticeable in the case of the white-throated laughing-thrush.
The general appearance of the streaked laughing-thrush is that of one of the seven sisters who is wearing her best frock. Like their sisters of the plains, Himalayan streaked laughing-thrushes go about in small flocks and are exceedingly noisy. Sometimes a number of them assemble, apparently for the sole purpose of holding a speaking competition. They are never so happy as when thus engaged.
This is another common bird. Like all its clan it goes about in flocks. Its wings are chestnut and blue. Grammatophila striata. The striated laughing-thrush. A common bird, but as it keeps to dense foliage it is heard more often than seen. Of its curious cries Jerdon likens one to the clucking of a hen which has just laid an egg. The tail is chestnut.
It goes about in large flocks and continually utters a cry, loud and plaintive and not in the least like laughter. The former may be distinguished from the white-throated species by the fact that the lower part only of its throat is white, the chin being red. The red-headed laughing-thrush has no white at all in the under parts.
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