518 PASSERIFORMES CHAP. 
branch, or even builds it in creepers. Savi’s Warbler (Locustella 
luscinioides) makes a Rail-like nest of broad grass-blades (Glyceria) 
in sedges, Myiomoira one of bark, grass, wool, moss, and fibres in 
holes in trees, Jiro a similar fabric on their branches, Acanthiza a 
domed hanging structure of like materials, Origma a ragged pendent 
mass of moss and roots, lined with fur or feathers, under rocks. 
Orthotomus (Tailor-bird) and some species of Franklinia, Prinia, 
and Cisticola stitch together the edges of a leaf or leaves to 
sustain their nest of grass, cotton, wool, and hair. 
The number of eggs is generally from three to six, but as 
many as twelve are found in Regulus. The colour is_buftish- 
white with brownish and violet-grey spots in Savi’s Warbler ; 
pinker with delicate red-brown freckling in the Grasshopper- 
Warbler; rich red-brown in Cettia and Chthonicola ; similar or 
varying to blue, green, white or pinkish, with or without red or 
brown spots, in Prinia—even in the same species; little different 
in Cisticola ; bronzy-brown in Pyrrholaemus ; white or purplish 
with dark markings in Sericornis ; white in Origma and Crypto- 
lopha. In Sylvia the eggs are greenish- or yellowish-white with 
olive, brown, green, or reddish spots; in Acrocephalus they are 
decidedly greener; in Aedon greyer with brown and dull violet 
markings; in Phylloscopus and <Acanthiza white, usually with 
dark red or purplish spotting; in Hypolais lilac-pink with 
blackish or brown blotches or streaks; in Regulus white, freckled 
or entirely suffused with yellowish or ruddy dots. 
Myiodectes frequents woods and thickets, and has somewhat 
Thrush-hke habits; the voice is powerful, clear and metallic ; 
while the food consists chietly of berries, though insects are 
hawked for in the air. The nest, placed on bushes, stumps, 
banks or rocks, is made of sticks lined with soft materials, or of 
twigs, roots, and moss, and contains from three to six eggs, not 
unlike those of the Redbreast. 
Polioptila Naunts tall trees or shrubs in pairs or small 
companies; the habits are restless, the flight is quick, the food 
consists of gnats and so forth, commonly captured on the wing. 
The purse-lhke nest is felted with bark, fibres, and down, and 
decorated with lichens; it is woven to boughs, stems, or creepers, 
and contains four or five greenish- or bluish-white eggs, marked 
with red-brown, lilac, and grey. 
Of the Miminae, Mimus polyglottus is the Mocking-bird in 
