CISTICOLA. 



259 



more pronounced on the forehead; the upper surface, wings, and tail are correspondingly paler 

 than typical examples of C. cvilis, and only the feathers on the upper portion of the back have 

 brown centres; wing i-g inches. This specimen has that bleached and washed out appearance 

 common to many species inhabiting this and similar hot and arid districts. 



Of adult males in tlieir progress from the breeding or summer plumage to winter plumage, 

 there is an example in the collection obtained by Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Long Bay, near Sydney, 

 on the 17th March, 1899. This specimen shows the new tail feathers replacing the slightly 



abraded old ones, and some of the 

 golden-buff feathers on the crown 

 of the head are broadly streaked 

 with black; wing i -9 inches. Another 

 adult male, shot on the banks of the 

 Hawkesbury River on the 14th Feb- 

 ruary, 1897, is in the ordinary breed- 

 ing plumage, but the rich golden-buff 

 feathers of the head have two short 

 black streaks on the crown, and 

 several similar markings on the nape; 

 wing I -8 inches. 



Undoubted preference is shown 

 by this species for coastal districts. 

 I have never met with it very far 

 inland, or in mountain ranges any 

 distance from the coast, nor is it 

 found at all in the interior of the 

 continent. Grass-beds, tussocks of 

 long rushes, heath-lands, and standing 

 grain-crops are its fa\'ourite haunts, 

 and from its habit of frequenting and 

 nestmg in the latter situations it is 

 locally known in many parts of New 

 South Wales as "Corn" or ''Barley- 

 bird." It possesses an animated but 

 squeaky kind of song, which, compared 

 with the size of the bird, may be heard 

 some distance away. Frequently it is 

 uttered while perched upon the top 

 of a grass-stalk, but immediately an 

 intruder ventures near, the bird seeks 

 refuge in the cover below. The 

 stomachs of all the specimens I have examined contained only the remains of minute insects. 

 Near Sydney these birds are not uncommon about Randwick, Long Bay, and La Perouse, 

 also between Manly and Narrabeen, where they have been frequently found breeding. 



The nest is a small domed-shaped structure, with an entrance near the top, and is 

 formed chiefly of very fine grasses, and lined and coated with plant-down and spider's webs 

 woven together, and has usually several leaves carefully worked on to the outer portion of 

 the structure. Sometimes it is placed between three or more plant leaves springing from a 

 single stalk, which, being drawn together, conceal all but the entrance. In ten nests now before 

 me the number of leaves attached to the outer portion of each varies from three to eleven in 



NKST OP CRASS WARBLER. 



