LOCUSTELLA. 353 



As a rule, the underparts are quite unmarked ; but in many birds 

 in adult plumage there are a few tiny marks on the feathers of the 

 sides of the breast. 



Iris sepia-brown ; legs white ; bill dark brown ; mandible 

 ochraceous {Everett). 



The youug bird up to October has the whole upper plumage, 

 includiug the coverts and tertiaries, blackish brown ; the feathers 

 of the head narrowly, and all the others broadly, margined with 

 reddish brown ; rectrices chiefly blackish brown, irregularly mar- 

 gined with rufous-brown, and very broadly terminated with whitish ; 

 the lower plumage buff, pale on the throat and upper breast, dark 

 on the lower breast, and increasing in depth of colour down to the 

 tail-coverts ; the throat and breast closely spotted with triangular 

 blackish-brown marks ; 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 reddish brown. 



Birds with the bright yellowish-buff lower plumage are not spotted, 

 and this is probably the stage into which the nestling moults in 

 October or November. In this stage the upper plumage is much 

 brighter, the black centres to the feathers being smaller and the 

 margins larger ; the rump is almost unstreaked. The black on 

 the rectrices is less in extent, and the white tips reduced to the 

 same size as in the adult ; the eye-streak, the chin, throat, and the 

 whole lower plumage are lively yellowish-buff, becoming deeper and 

 passing into warm ochraceous on the flanks and under tail-coverts. 

 There are no spots, but a few of the feathers on the sides of the 

 neck are obsoletely tipped darker, but so slightly as not to be 

 noticeable without close inspection. 



From this stage the bird in spring moults into the full plumage. 

 The summer plumage does not apparently differ from that of winter 

 except in being rather paler below. 



Length 5-5 ; tail 2-2 ; wing 2'3 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from gape -7 ; 

 the second primary is generally equal to the fourth, but some- 

 times slightly longer or shorter. 



Distribution. A winter visitor to Burma and portions of India. 

 This species does not appear to be rare in some parts of Bengal. 

 It has been procured at Cherra Poonjee, in the Andamans, and in 

 Ceylon. I observed it to be very common in Southern Pegu in 

 the rice-fields near the Pegu Canal from October to December. 

 There is no portion of India and Burma, suited to its habits, 

 where this bird may not probably be found if looked for. In winter 

 it occurs in China and the Malay Archipelago, and it passes the 

 summer in Northern Asia. 



361. Locustella lanceolata. The Streaked Grasshopper- Warbler. 



Sylvia lauceolata, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2, iv, p. 614 (1840). 

 Locustella subsignata, Hume, S. F. i, p. 409 (1873), ii, p. 496. 

 Locustella lanceolata (Temm.), Wold. Ibis, 1874, p. 139 ; id. in Blyth, 

 VOL. i. 2 A 



