258 SYLVIID.E. 



O-erL-U-S OISTIOOXj-A., Ka^ip. 



Cisticola exilis. 



GRASS-WARBLEE. 

 Malurus exilis, Vig. & Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 223 (1826, ex Lath. MSS.) 

 Cysticola exilis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IIL, pi. 42 (1848). 

 Cysticola ruficeps, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 150; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 45 



(1848). 

 Cisticola exilis, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 350 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. VIL, p. 269 (1883). 



Adult male — (Breeding plumage) — General colour above golden-buff, the feathers of the back 

 with a slight ashy shade, and broadly centred with broivnish-black; upper wing-coverts like the 

 back; primaries and outermost secondaries brown externally edged with golden-buff, the innermost 

 secondaries blackish-brown margined tvith golden-buff; tail feathers broivnish-black, edged and 

 largely tipped tvith golden-buff; forehead and sides of the head and neck slightly darker than the 

 crown; all the under surface pale golden-biiff] slightly darker on the breast and flanks ; under tail- 

 coverts pale golden-buff ; upper mandible brown, the lower mandible flesh colour ; legs and feet flesh 

 colour. Total length in the flesh 3 6 inches, wing 1-9, tail 1-2, hill OSS, tarsus 072. 



Adult female — (Breeding plumage) — Similar to the male, but having the head broadly 

 streaked with black like the back. 



Winter plu.maoe — (Both sexes) — Like the breeding plumage of the female, but all the feathers 

 having a distinct ashy shade, and all on the upper parts except those on the sides of the hind-neck 

 more broadly streaked tvith black; throat and centre of the breast and abdomen ashy-while. Total 

 length in the flesh Jf.-S inches, wing 19, tail 2, hill 38, tarsus 0-72. 



Distribution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queens- 

 land, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, New Guinea, the Moluccas and Phillipine 

 Islands, Formosa, Malayan Peninsula. 



/T^HIS little bird is chiefly an inhabitant of the coastal districts of Australia, in favourable 

 JL situations, over which it appears to be generally distributed, except in the south-western 

 portion of the continent. It is also found in New Guinea, the Moluccan and Phillipine Islands, 

 Formosa, and South-eastern Asia. So much do these birds vary in colour in their seasonal 

 changes of plumage, that it is difficult when one examines a large series from different parts of 

 the continent, to believe that they all belong to one species. Dr. Sharpe''^ has, however, 

 conclusively proved that the four species described and figured by Gould in his folio edition of 

 the "Birds of Australia," are all referrable to the present species, Cisticola exilis. Not only do 

 they vary in colour in the summer and winter plumage, but the tail feathers in the latter season 

 are remarkably longer than in summer. The descriptions given above of this species in 

 breeding plumage, are from specimens obtained while nesting on Ash Island, at the mouth of 

 the Hunter River; those in winter plumage being obtained at Randwick, close to Sydney. 

 The tails of adult males obtained in summer vary in length from 1-05 to 1-3 inches, of others 

 procured in winter i-8 to 2-i inches. Among breeding or summer-plumaged adult males, 

 examples obtained in Eastern Queensland and Eastern New South Wales, have the heads 

 darker than in others procured in South Australia; the under surface, too, of birds from the 

 latter State is uniform and of the same colour on the flanks. The lightest coloured specimen 

 I have before me was procured at Derby, North-western Australia. It has the head and the 

 under surface almost white, the former being slightly washed with golden-buff, and which is 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 269 (1883). 



