238 TURDID^E. 



pair white on the outer webs, and with a moderately broad white tip to both 

 webs, the rest of the inner webs dark hair brown ; the rest of the feathers 

 dark hair brown, margined on the outer webs with pale rufous. The whole 

 of the lower parts white, with, in the freshly-killed birds, a just perceptible 

 rufescent tinge ; wing lining and axillaries pure white ; wing pale brown, 

 narrowly margined and tipped with rufescent white ; the tertiaries pale dingy 

 rufescent with brown shafts. 



" Length. 4-8 to 4-9 inches ; expanse 7 to 7'2 ; tail from vent I *8 to 2 ; wing 

 2 to 2*2 ; wing when closed reach to within I to 1*2 of end of tail ; bill at 

 front O'3 to 0*33 ; tarsus 0*8 ; irides yellow to orange yellow; legs and feet pale 

 yellow, in some very pale lemon yellow ; claws dusky ; bill pale yellow, dusky, 

 or horny grey on culmen and at tip." (Hume, Str. F. i. p. 199.) 



Hal. Sind, Beloochistan, Kokand, Southern Persia and Algiers ; also 

 Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Rajputana. Breeds in Turkestan. In Sind it is 

 a winter visitant, affecting arid plains, and sides of hills wherever there is an 

 abundance of scrubby vegetation. 



281. Sylvia familiariS, Mene fries, Cat. Rats. Cauc. p. 32; Seebohm. 

 Monog. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 36. Aedon familiaris (Menetr.) Gray, Gen. B. i. 

 p. 173 ; id. Handlist B. i. p. 21 1 ; Dresser, B. Eur. pt. xxxii. ; Hume, Str. F. 

 iii. p. 476; Murray, Hdbk., Zool. fyc., Sind, p. 151 ; Murray ', Vert. Zool n 

 Sind, p. 163; THE GREY-BACKED WARBLER. 



The following is Mr. Hume's description of Indian specimens, ex " Si ray 

 Feathers" vol. iii. p. 477. 



"A broad superciliary stripe from the nostrils over and for some little 

 distance behind the eyes dull white or yellowish white ; a brown stripe from 

 the nostrils to the anterior angle of the eye, continued backwards, though not 

 conspicuous, for some distance from the posterior angle ; forehead, crown, 

 occiput, sides of the neck, entire back and wing dull earthy brown, paler and 

 more drabby in some ; quills and coverts margined and narrowly tipped with 

 dull yellowish or brownish white, with usually a slight rufescent tinge on the 

 margins of the primaries. Rump brownish chestnut ; upper tail coverts and 

 tail chestnut ; central tail feathers more or less brown on one or both webs ; 

 all the other tail feathers with a conspicuous subterminal'dark brown band 

 (which in the outer feathers runs some distance down the outer web) and 

 tipped, the two pairs next the centre narrowly with rufescent, and the other 

 three successively more and more broadly with pure white. Chin and throat 

 sordid white, with an indication of a darker line at the angle of the gape ; 

 ear coverts and the rest of the lower parts similar, but tinged with a faint 

 brownish shade usually ; wing lining and axillaries with a very faint yellowish 

 salmon tint ; inner margins of quills, on the lower surface, with a decided 

 buffy salmon tinge. 



