CH^TORNIS. 273 



portion of each feather near them dusky ; supercilium greyish white ; chin and 

 throat white ; sides of the neck and all the lower plumage earthy brown, tinged 

 with buff on the flanks ; vent and undertail coverts, also the breast, with a few 

 brown streaks. 



The young are distinguished from the adult by the yellow colour of the under 

 surface and lores, the streaks on the throat are absent, and only slightly indi- 

 cated ; the flanks and under tail coverts uniform light rufescent brown ; bill 

 black, pale horn on the lower mandible ; iris pale brown ; eyelids plumbeous. 



Length. 9 to 10 inches; wing 3-2 to 4 ; tail 4-5 to 4-9; tarsus 1-3; bill 

 from gape 0-95. 



Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Bengal, Central India, Assam, and British 

 Burmah. 



The Striated Marsh Warbler has a very wide range. It is found in the 

 Malayan Peninsula and Java. In Pegu, according to Gates, it is locally 

 distributed, being found only where there is long grass. It occurs on the 

 banks of the Irrawady and tributaries of the Godavery, also on the 

 Nerbudda, but is most abundant in lower Bengal, where the country is 

 intersected by rivers, and where long grass and reeds cover it for miles. It 

 generally keeps in couples, and seldom moves away from the spot it selects 

 for its feeding ground. During the cold weather, and up to the end of the 

 breeding season, this bird has a fine song, which it utters while flying from 

 one patch of grass to another, and which Blyth calls a fine flute-like voice. 

 In doing this, it is said to mount 30 or 40 feet into the air, and to come 

 down with motionless outspread wings. It breeds in May, making a partially 

 domed structure of coarse grasses, in tufts of grass not very high from the 

 ground. The eggs are usually 4 in number, white and speckled with purplish 

 brown. 



Gen. ChSBtornis. Gray. 



Bill short, about one-half the length of that of Megalurns, strong, high, 

 compressed, curved on the culmen, hooked at the tip and notched. Five 

 strong bristles on each side between the gape and the eye ; wings long, the 

 3rd quill longest ; legs and feet strong. 



