LATICILLA. 27F 



and about a foot from the ground ; the eggs, he says, have r a purplish white 

 ground, sprinkled all over with numerous small specks and spots of purplish 

 brown and purple (brownish red, almost black in some), with a cap of the 

 same at the large end. They are moderately broad ovals, with but little gloss 

 Size 073 x o % 6. 



Gen. Laticilla Blyth. 



Bill of moderate length, compressed and slender ; the culmen slightly 

 curved ; wings short, rounded ; 5th and 6th quills longest ; second primary 

 shorter than secondaries ; tail strongly graduated, long and broad, the outer 

 tail feathers just reaching beyond the under tail coverts, beyond which the 

 outstretched feet do not reach. This genus comprises two species only both; 

 found in India. 



331. Laticilla burnesi, (.Blyth) Blyth, y. A. S. B. xiv. p. 59 6 ; 



Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 180 ; 1879, p. 97 ; Doig, t. c. p. 370 ; Murray, Vert. 

 Zool., Sind, p. 134; Sharpe, Cat. B. Rr. Mus. viii. p. 1 1-8 ; Eiirycercus 

 Burnesii, Blyth. J. A. S. B., xiii. p. 374; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 74, No. 443. 

 The LONG-TAILED REED-BIRD. 



Above olive brown* paler on the head, rufescent on the back and sides of 

 the neck; the feathers, including the scapulars, mesially streaked with, dark 

 brown ; rump and upper tail coverts unstriped ; lores and round the eye white ; 

 ear coverts greyish white ^ tail olive brown, with faint transverse striae, the 

 lateral feathers narrowly margined at the tips with whitish ; a double line of 

 dark spots from the base of the lower mandible on either side of the throat; 

 under surface white ; the flanks and sides brownish, the feathers with fulvous 

 mesial streaks ; und^r tail coverts ferruginous ; bill horny brown, paler on 

 lower mandible ; irides brown ; legs pale horny. 



Length. 7 to 7-7 inches ; wing 2 to 2-3 ; tail 4 ; bill at front O'4. 



Hob. Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces and Bengal. Breeds in Sind fromi 

 July to September. 



Affects high grass jungles,, from inside which it is most difficult to flush. 

 When once disturbed, it climbs about in the interior of the reeds and' grass,, 

 and seldom affords a chance of a shot. It requires much patience and 

 trouble to secure specimens. Hume adds that they cost him more trouble 

 than any other bird he met with in Sind. This is certainly the experience of 

 every one desirous of forming a collection of the species. 



332. Laticilla cinerascens, ( w<M.) Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 97 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vii. p. 1 19. Eurycercus cinerascens, Walden, Ann. 

 and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), xvi. p. 156 (1874. The CINEKKOI s LOXG-TAIL.SD 

 REED-BIRD. 



