550 Dr. C. B. Ticehurst on [Ibis, 



Acrocephalus dumetorum Blyih. 



I did not find Blyth's Keed-Warbler at all a common bird, 

 and its status seems uncertain ; all that I obtained or identi- 

 fied were in spring from 29 March to 2 May. Butler records 

 it in the cold weather and spring, while Blanford obtained 

 it ill autumn; probably it is a spring and autumn passage 

 migrant, and some spend the winter in suitable places. This 

 bird is a Reed- Warbler in name, but it has none of the habits 

 of that group ; it is almost invariably met with creeping 

 about the higher boughs of a leafy " babool '' tree nowhere 

 near water, and its mode of living exactly resembles that of 

 the Tree- Warblers. 



Birds in March and April are undergoing a body moult 

 only. 



Acrocephalus agricola agricola (Jerd.). 



The Paddy-field Warbler is a common winter visitor to 

 Sind in suitable localities, and such places are any piece of 

 water with tamarisk, sedges, reeds or grass of any height 

 growing round and in the edge, sedge- and reed-covered 

 swamps. It only seems to have these two requirements — 

 the ground must be damp or wet, and cover must be thick. 

 Elsewhere I never saw it. From the nature of its haunts it 

 necessarily appears to be rather a skulker, yet where it does 

 occur it is so numerous that it cannot be overlooked ; I found 

 it especially abundant on the Manchar and Jhangshahi Lakes. 

 I have no date of its arrival, though I found it absent in 

 suitable })l;ices on 15 September, so it probably comes later 

 than that ; and I have seen it still common on 31 March, so it 

 leaves sometime in April. In the field the more rusty-brown 

 less dark upper parts and absence of the clear white super- 

 cilium at once distinguish it from Lusciniola melanopogon, 

 which inhabits the same spots. 



Eight specimens (January to March) ; all belong to the 

 typical race. Wings measure 56'6-60*5 mm.; the second 

 primary lies in length between the sixth and seventh, or 

 equals the sixth or seventh, and in two specimens between the 

 seventh and eighth. Spring moult begins early in March. 



