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RUFOUS FAN-TAIL WARBLER. 



cisticola cisticola tinnabulans 

 (swinhoe). 



Description. — Length four and one 

 half inches, tail shghtly longer in the 

 winter. Bill flesh color, darker on the 

 culmen. Tarsus reddish yellow. Iris 

 light brown. 



Dark brown above, the feathers of 

 the head and back bordered with 

 rufous and gray. Rump rufous. 

 Throat and abdomen whitish, flanks 

 and breast washed with rufous. Tail 

 fan-shaped, with transverse stripes 

 of rufous, brown, black, and white. 

 The rufous shade is less prominent in 

 the winter. 



Distribution. — China generally. A 

 common resident in the Yangtse 

 Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — The nest is a deep 

 tubular pocket of felted grass-down 

 fastened by cobwebs to a clump of 

 standing grasses. Its location varies 

 from a few inches to more than a foot 

 above the ground. There are usually 

 five greenish white eggs, splotched with 

 various shades of red and purple. 



Notes. — It is hard to see this little 

 bird on the ground as it creeps along 

 among the grasses. When flushed, it 

 will alight on a weed stalk for only an 

 instant to take observations, and then 

 drop to the ground again. It is often 

 heard, however, as it flies about high in 

 the air repeating its shrill call, " pete, 

 pete, pete," though the sound is very 

 difficult to locate. As it comes to the 

 ground, the call is changed to a sharp 

 ' chip, chip, chip," so different in 

 sound that one does not readily 

 associate the two calls with the same 

 bird. 



