314 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



calls it, "winters in Formosa and as far as India and the Philippine 

 Islands. It nests in N. W. China, in Siberia, Kamtschatka, the 

 Kurile Islands, and Yezzo, and it passes through South Japan in 

 numbers, as I saw many migrants at sea off the South coast of Hondo 

 during the month of May. * * * Although not a conspicuous 

 bird in South China, it must be fairly common at times of passage. 

 I once met with a number in a bean-field near Chinkiang, but that 

 was the only time when I saw many together." 



Tsen-Hwang Shaw (1936) says that it passes through Hopei Prov- 

 ince in China in May, and that it is found in cultivated fields and 

 reed beds. "Its food consists of ants, wasps, small beetles, and other 

 insects." 



The following two paragraphs, on nesting and eggs, are contributed 

 by Bernard W. Tucker. 



Nesting. — Dybowski, quoted by Taczanowski (1872), says: "It nests 

 on the ground in very well concealed places, either in heaps of boughs 

 and small bits of wood swept together by the floods, or else in thickets 

 or dense grass, or under the shelter of hillocks. The nest is found 

 only by accident ; we found only a few, although the bird is so numerous. 

 The nest is domed and has an opening at the side. It is constructed 

 of dried marsh grass, and lined with a few bents. Although artis- 

 tically built, the structure is weak, and it is difficult to remove it 

 without destroying its original shape." 



Eggs. — The same authority writes: "Late in June the female 

 deposits five oval-shaped eggs; some, however, are rather elongated, 

 others shorter and stouter; and they have a slight gloss. The ground 

 color is greenish blue; and the entire surface is marked with very 

 pale brick-red (almost imperceptible) spots, which are rather more 

 thickly scattered round the larger end. They measure from 18.8 by 

 15.3 millimeters to 21.4 by 16 millimeters." 



In his later, posthumously published "Faune Ornithologique de la 

 Siberie Orientale," Taczanowski (1891) quotes measurements of 16 

 eggs, which, excluding an obviously abnormal one measuring 25.5 

 by 16.6 millimeters, show an average of 21.11 by 15.5 millimeters; 

 maximum, 22 by 16 millimeters; minima, 20.4 by 15.2 and 22 by 14.8 

 millimeters. 



Plumages. — As this pretty little bird has not been described in 

 North American manuals, it seems worth while to include Shaw's 

 (1936) description of the adult plumages, as follows: 



Adult male. Entire upper parts olive brown, feathers of forehead and crown 

 faintly edged paler and centred darker; * * * tail brown edged with olive 

 brown; a superciliary line from base of bill to the eye and a broad moustachial 

 stripe white; lores and under the eye black; ear regions olive brown with whitish 

 shaft-streaks; chin, throat, and fore neck glossy scarlet surrounded by a narrow 



