Reed-bird from Eastern Asia. 205 



Bill at base exceedingly slender and much depressed. Wing 

 of unusual power for such a little bird. Tail almost as in 

 Pnoepyga, but somewhat more rounded. Style of coloration 

 scaly, as in Pnoepyga. Legs and feet large, strong, and 

 coloured as in Horornis. Lower tail-coverts very long. 



Mr. Brooks says, " I do not know of any genus in which 

 this little bird can be placed : the scaly plumage separates it 

 from Horornis, Neoi'nis, and Tribura. This, with its queer 

 short tail, brings it near Pnoepyga ; but the bill is as slender 

 as in Troglodytes, or more so, and the wing is quite unlike 

 that of Pnoepyga. I wonder whether ten tail-feathers is the 

 correct number ; that is the number in my specimen, which 

 appears to be perfect.^' 



The synonymy of this bird will stand as follows : — 



Urosphena squamiceps. (Plate IV.) 



Tribura squamiceps, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 292 ; Ibis, 

 1866, p. 397, et 1874, p. 155. 



Hab. Canton (Blakiston) ; Formosa {Swinhoe) ; Hakodadi, 

 Japan [Blakiston) ; Ussuri district, Manchuria [Taczanowski) -, 

 Tenasserim [Davison) . 



The figure (PI. IV.) is taken from the specimen from For- 

 mosa : a view of the lower surface of the tail-feathers is given 

 below the main figure. 



[Since this paper was received I have been able, by Mr. 

 Brooks^s kindness, to compare the Tenasserim specimen of 

 this bird with Mr. Swinhoe^s type. I find them obviously 

 identical, the former only showing more clearly the extreme 

 slenderness of the bill. The Tenasserim skin belongs to Mr. 

 Hume, and was obtained at Bankasoon, in the Malewoon dis- 

 trict, in March 1875, by Mr. W. Davison. It is marked 

 ? . The legs, feet, claws, and gape, with two thirds of lower 

 mandible from gape, are noted as " fleshy white ; upper man- 

 dible and rest of lower mandible horny brown ; irides dark 

 brown.^'— P, L. S.] 



