312. Locnstella certhiola, (A?//.) S t >ei,<j,m- Cat. n. /:,. j///. r . 



v. p. 114; Hum?, Str. />'. viii. p. 100 ; Gates, />'. n. i. p. 102. 



Motacilla certhiola, PalL Zoogr., Rosso- Asiat. i. p. 509. Locnstella rube-- 

 tflyth t J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 582; JenL B. Ind. iii. p. if.o. Locu 

 temporalis, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 160. Calamodyta doria?, Sah. Atti. R. Ac. 

 Sc. Tor. iii. p. 531; Sharpe, Ibis, 1876, p. 41, pi. ii., fig. 2. The LESSER 

 REED-\VARBLER. 



Upper parts russet brown, greyer on the head, more tawny on the 

 rump and upper tail coverts, and paler on the edges of the wing coverts ; tail 

 feathers blackish brown, irregularly margined with rufous brown, and broadly 

 terminated with whitish ; stripe over the eye and a streak from the bill under 

 the cheeks and ear coverts yellowish buff; ear coverts hair brown ; under wing 

 coverts whitish ; primaries and secondaries dark brown, narrowly edged with 

 rufous brown ; under surface buff, paler on the throat and upper breast, which 

 and the whole breast are spotted with black brown. In the next stage the 

 throat and breast are unspotted, and the whole under surface, including these, 

 are brighter yellow ; the rump is also unstreaked or almost so ; the rectrices 

 are not so broadly tipped white, and the eye streak, chin, throat, and the whole 

 lower plumage are yellowish buff. In spring the adult birds have the head 

 blackish brown, each feather narrowly edged with pale reddish brown. An 

 unmarked reddish brown collar is present in some ; the back, scapulars, and 

 wing coverts dark blackish brown, rather broadly edged with reddish brown ; 

 the rump is also reddish brown ; the upper tail coverts reddish brown with a 

 central spot of black ; outer tail feathers nearly all black, with scarcely any 

 rufous margins ; towards the middle the feathers become less black and more 

 margined with rufous, the central pair being rufous with only a black shaft 

 line ; all the feathers are tipped with white ; chin, throat and centre of abdomen 

 whitish ; rest of the under parts delicate buff ; bill dark brown ; legs whitish ; 

 irides sepia brown. 



Length. 5*5 inches ; wing 2-3 j tail 2-2 ; tarsus 0-85 ; bill from gape 0*7. 



Hab. Central and Eastern Siberia, where it breeds. It passes through 

 China on migration, and winters in India, Ceylon, the Burmah Peninsula, and 

 the Islands of the Malay Archipelago. In India it is found in the N. \V. 

 Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, and Central India, also Assam. It is also recorded 

 from the Khasia Hills. In Burmah Gates says it occurs in Pegu, and 

 probably also in Arrakan and Tenasserim. It summers in Siberia and occa- 

 sionally straggles into Europe. It is shy, and never by any chance seen 

 except by accident. Gates says it swarms in inundated paddy fields to an 

 incredible extent. After the i6th December the bird disappears entirely. 

 Quoting Dybowsky, Gates has it that it makes its nest in a tuft of grass close 

 to the ground, and lays five or six eggs, which are rosy white, speckled widi 

 reddish brown. 



