222 REED-EUNTIXG. 



but South-eastern Siberia, ^Mongolia and China are inhabited by a 

 smaller race, which has been called E. passerina, with the black and 

 white colours in stronger contrast and the rufous less pronounced. 

 In Southern Spain, Southern Italy and Sicily, a resident form with 

 a larger bill has received the name of E. paJjistris ; while further 

 east, from Astrakhan to Turkestan and Yarkand, a bird with a still 

 larger bill, and also paler in colour, is distinguished as E. pyrrhtddidcs. 

 Few authors agree as to the nomenclature of these supposed species, 

 or where the lines of distinction between them are to be drawn ; 

 nevertheless Dr. Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. INIus. xii. p. 473) has 

 placed the two last with a Japanese form in the genus Pyrrhiilo- 

 rhyncha^ which Professor Giglioli instituted in 1S65. 



The nest, commenced in the latter part of March or early in 

 April, is usually placed upon the ground, at the foot of a tuft of 

 rushes or of the stems of young willows and shrubs ; frequently in 

 herbage on the side of a bank ; occasionally on young spruce-firs or 

 on bunches of reeds, at varying elevations. The materials employed 

 are dry grass, moss and withered flags for the exterior, with bents, 

 hair and the feathery tops of reeds for the lining. The eggs, 4-6 in 

 number, are purplish-grey — sometimes with a huffish tinge — boldly 

 spotted and streaked with darker purple brown : average measure- 

 ments 77 by '59 in. The Cuckoo is moderately partial to the nests 

 of this species. Two, and occasionally three broods are produced 

 in the season. The hen sits very closely, and both she and the male 

 feign lameness and practise other devices to divert attention from 

 the young. In summer the food consists of insects, such as cater- 

 pillars and small white moths, also small fresh-water crustaceans and 

 molluscs ; later in the year, seeds of marsh-plants and grain'are con- 

 sumed. The song of the male is loud and stammering, ending with 

 a long-drawn zississ ; the call-note resembles the word tschec. 



The adult male has the head and throat deep black, with a 

 broad white line from the base of the bill joining a collar of the 

 same colour ; mantle, wing-coverts and secondaries warm reddish- 

 brown, with dark centres to the feathers ; quills dull brown ; tail- 

 feathers blackish, with oblique white patches on the two outer 

 pairs ; belly whitish ; flanks dusky, streaked with brown ; bill and 

 legs dull brown. Length 6 in. ; wing 3'i in. In autumn the 

 black on the head and throat is obscured by the buffish-brown tips 

 of the feathers. The female is rather smaller, much duller in colour, 

 and has a reddish-brown head with darker streaks, while the eye- 

 stripe is buffish-white and the throat is merely streaked with black 

 on a huffish ground. The young resemble the female. 



