CISTICOLA ABERRANS. 271 
of South Africa, and is apparently not rare in the neighbourhood of 
Pinetown, whence Captain Shelley has received several specimens 
from Mr. T. L. Ayres. He also met with it himself in Natal, this 
being the species to which he alludes in the ‘ Ibis’ (1875, p. 71) as 
D. subruficapilla, when he writes :—“ Very common about Durban 
and Pinetown, usually in family parties, where I have frequently 
watched them threading their way along the edge of the bushes, 
constantly uttering a short note.” 
The following description is taken from the type-specimen kindly 
lent by Dr. Finsch. 
Adult.—Ahbove fulyous brown, very broadly streaked with black, 
the margins to the dorsal feathers rather rufescent; head and 
hinder neck more rufous than the back, the blackish stripes 
much less distinct and indeed almost obsolete on the nape and 
hinder neck ; rump uniform fulvous brown, the upper tail-coyverts 
also with very faint mesial streaks of blackish; wing-coverts 
ashy fulyous with dark brown centres, the greater series more 
shaded with rufous externally; quills dark brown, broadly edged 
with rufous externally so as to give a rufous aspect to the wings, 
the margins of the secondaries paler and more fulvescent; tail 
rufescent brown, lighter rufous on the margins: the two centre 
feathers without any subterminal black mark and irregularly waved 
across with dusky bars under certain lights, all the other feathers 
with a broad black subterminal bar, the tips being fulvescent, this 
pale ending being more distinct on the outer plumes and forming a 
margin to the last rectrix; lores and feathers round the eye 
yellowish buff forming a tolerably distinct eyebrow; sides of face 
also fulvous, the ear-coverts rather browner with obsolete dusky tips 
to the feathers; cheeks fulvyous; chin and centre of the body 
white, the throat and sides of the body tawny fulvous, clearer on 
the thighs, the flanks slightly shaded with brown; under wing- and 
tail-coverts tawny buff; bill brown, yellowish at the base of the 
under mandible; legs yellowish. Total length, 5 inches; culmen, 
0°45 ; wing, 2°1; tail, 2°35 ; tarsus, 0°75. 
256. CIsTICOLA ABERRANS. Smith’s Fantail Warbler. 
Drymoica aberrans, and D. ruficapilla, Layard, B. S. Afr. pp. 
88, 90. 
This Warbler is easily recognized by its uniform upper surface, 
the head being rufous, the back dark grey. It was first called 
