164 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian Phylloscopi. 



I. Genus Phylloscopus, Boie, apud G. R. Gray. 

 Type Motacilla trochilus, L.* 



1. PhYLLOSCOPUS RAMA. 

 Sylvia rama, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 89. 



There appear to be two races of this bird, differing a little in 

 shade of colour, but in no other particular that we can discern. 

 The bill is rather thicker and the form less slender than in most 

 others of the genus ; and together with the colouring, approxi- 

 mate it to Calamoherpe, Boie, for a species of which it might be 

 mistaken at first sight t ; but the form of the wings and tail, and 

 general character, sufficiently indicate its true position to be as 

 here arranged. 



Length 5 in. by 7^ in. in alar expanse : wing 2f to 2|^ in. ; 

 1st primary -j^^ in., the second ^ in. shorter than the third, which 

 about equals the 4th and 5th : tail 2^ in. ; its outermost feather 

 ^ in. shorter : bill to gape ^ in. : tarse J in. Irides dark. Bill 

 dusky above, light carneous below : legs light brown, tinged with 

 plumbeous on the joints. Plumage, above uniform light grayish- 

 brown ; below pale or albescent, passing to white on the chin, 

 middle of belly and vent : lores, continued as a slight streak 

 passing over the eye, and the orbital feathers, pale. 



This bird is very common in Lower Bengal during the cold 

 season, upon sandy soil above the tideway of the rivers ; haunting 

 baubul topes and scattered trees near villages, as well as hedges 

 and bush -jungle. Those of S. India have a slight ferruginous 

 tint throughout ; but we can detect no further difference. It 

 would not appear to inhabit the sub-Himalayan region. 



• A better average type exists in Ph. rvfus, v. Curruca rufa, Brisson. 

 t We have three Indian species of Calamoherpe, all distinct from those 

 of Europe. 



1. C. brunnescens ; Agrobates brunnescens, Jerdon. Very like the 

 European C. arundinaceus (Turdus arundinaceus, L. ; Sylvia turdoides, 

 Meyer) ; but easily distinguished by the form of the wing, in which the 

 second or first developed primary is constantly \ in. shorter than the next, 

 and the third, fourth and fifth are subequal. 



2. C. dumetorum, nobis, J. A. S. xviii. 815. 



3. C. agricola, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. xiii. pt. 2. p. 131 ; J. A. S. xiv. 595. 

 This much resembles the European C. ialicaria (Motacilla sahcaria, Grnelin ; 

 C. alnorum, Brehm ; Mot. arundinacca, Lightfoot) ; but is readily distin- 

 guished from it, as is also C dumetorum, by the same difference in the pro- 

 portion of the primaries as exists in the species before cited. 



The three Indian species of Calamoherpe accordingly tend to approximate 

 Phylloscopus in the form of the wing, and they have also less aquatic habits 

 than their European congeners. 



