352 SYLVIID^. 



The birds of this genus have a slender bill, about half as long as 

 the head ; the rictal bristles are very weak and hardly noticeable, 

 and the forehead is very smooth and free from all hairs ; the 

 plumage is soft ; the first primary is exceedingly small and the 

 second reaches nearly to the tip of the wing ; the tail is very much 

 rounded and the feathers have a tendency to be pointed; the under 

 tail-coverts are very long. 



Key to tlie Species. 



a. Tail-feathers broadly tipped with white L. certhiola, p. 352. 



b. Tail-feathers without broad white tips. 



a'. Lower plumage streaked L. lanceolate^ p. 353. 



b'. Lower plumage not streaked L. straminea, p. 354. 



360. Locustella certhiola. Pallas 's Grasshopper-Warbler. 



Motacilla certhiola, Pal. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i, p. 509 (1811). 

 Locustella rubescens, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 582 (1845) ; id. Cat. 



p. 182; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 160. 



Locustella temporalis, Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 160 (1863). 

 Locustella certhiola (Pall.), Godiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. ii, 



p. 270 ; Hume, Cat. no. 521 ; Leyqe, Birds Ccyl. p. 548 ; See- 



bohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 114 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 216 ; id. B. B. i, 



p. 102. 

 The Ruddy Reed- Warbler, Jerd. 



Fig. 113. Head of L. certhiola. 



Coloration. Head blackish brown, each feather narrowly edged 

 with pale reddish brown ; a collar behind the nape reddish brown 

 without marks ; this unspotted collar indicates very old birds ; back, 

 scapulars, and wing-coverts dark blackish brown, rather broadly 

 edged with reddish brown ; rump reddish brown, without marks ; 

 upper tail-coverts reddish brown, each feather with a large central 

 drop of black ; the outer tail-feathers nearly all black, the rufous 

 margins being small ; towards the middle of the tail each pair of 

 rectrices becomes progressively less black and more margined with 

 rufous, and the middle pair are rufous with a broad serrated black 

 shaft-line ; all the rectrices tipped with white ; eye-streak yellowish 

 white ; ear-coverts hair-brown, and a patch below the ear-coverts 

 yellowish buff; chin, throat, and middle of abdomen whitish; 

 remainder of the underparts delicate buff, becoming darker on the 

 flanks and under tail-coverts ; wings brown, the tertiaries edged with 

 whitish, and the other quills with pale rufous-brovvn. 



