The conspicuous features of this laughingthrush are the black face, white moustachial spot and the white patches behind the ears. The ornithologist, Dr. T.C. Jerdon observed it in thick bamboo jungle at altitudes between 8,000 and 9,000 ft. near Darjeeling, and received specimens from Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal.
The illustration was drawn from a specimen given to Gould by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800-1894), ornithologist and British Resident in Nepal.
The laughingthrushes are depicted lifesize.
T.C. Jerdon, Birds of India, 1863, II, p.5 and The Ibis, 1872, p.306.
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: northeastern India, northeastern Burma, southeastern Tibet, south-central and southwestern China and northern Vietnam