516 Lieut. H. R. Kelham on 



lively little bird, continually on the move, hopping from twig- 

 to twig, and uttering its loud shrill notes. 



This Tailorbird makes the same ingeniously constructed 

 nest as the others of its kind. One of these, which I have 

 before me, consists of a large leaf about 10 inches in length, 

 of which the outer edges are drawn together and sewn with 

 regular stitches, with what appear to be threads of tow or 

 cocoa-nut fibre, probably the latter. A bag is thus formed ; 

 and its lower end is filled with fine bents and lined with 

 fragments of cotton, making a soft receptacle for the eggs. 

 A male shot at Tanglin, Singapore, on 6tli September 1879, 

 was 5 inches in length, tarsus f ; beak flesh-colour below, 

 dusky above, from gape to tip -^q ; irides clear pale brown ; 

 head and tail rich chestnut ; beneath silky white, tinged 

 with buff on the flanks and ear-coverts; upper parts grey- 

 brown, slightly tinged with, yellowish green ; inner margins 

 of wing-feathers buff. 



CisTicoLA cuRsiTANs, Fraukl. The Fantail Warbler. 



This tiny bird, identical with the European Fantail Warbler, 

 is found throughout the Straits wherever there is open grass- 

 country, or ground covered with scrub, particularly if it be 

 low-lying and marshy. It is very plentiful in Singapore on 

 those parts of the island where the jungle has been cleared 

 and long " lalang " grass sprung up, with bushes scattered 

 here and there. In my notes is : — 



"Tangling, Singapore, 8th July, 1879. All this afternoon 

 I was collecting small birds in the neighboui'hood of Mount 

 Echo — capital collecting-ground. Among the scrub bordering 

 the paddy-fields. Grass Warblers, C. cursitans, were very 

 numerous. I watched one of them for a long time, at one 

 moment clinging to the top of a grass-stalk and singing with 

 low, feeble, but melodious notes, the next flitting with an 

 ascending series of jerks high up into the air, and uttering 

 its shrill cry, pitt ! j)^tt • P^t ! pitt !, repeated over and over 

 again, then suddently ceasing as the bird dropped like a 

 stone straight down into the grass. They seem to me to be 

 exactly like the Fantail Warbler I knew so well in the Medi- 

 terranean, and which bred plentifully on the marshy land 



