B54 SYLVIID2E. 



Birds Burm. p. 121 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 290 ; Hume # Dav. S. F. 

 vi, p. 339 Hume, Cat. no. 520 bis ; Seebohm, Cat. B. M. v, p. 118 ; 

 Oafea, & .F. x, p. 215 ; id. B. B. i, p. 104. 

 Lusciniopsis heudersonii, Cass. in Proc. Phil. Ac. So. 1858, p. 194. 



'Coloration. Whole upper plumage russet-brown, each feather 

 with a distinct dark brown median streak ; wings brown, the pri- 

 maries and secondaries edged with russet-brown on the outer webs, 

 the tertiaries edged with the same on both webs; tail brown, 

 obsoletely edged paler, and the shafts viewed from below white ; 

 ear-coverts hair-brown ; sides of the head streaked with russet- 

 and dark brown ; chin, upper throat, and middle of the abdomen 

 spotless pale ochraceous white ; the remainder of the lower 

 plumage darker ochraceous, streaked with blackish brown ; under 

 tail-coverts sometimes streakless, more frequently largely streaked 

 with blackish brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale 

 vinaceous. 



The streaks on the lower surface become reduced in aged birds. 

 The bird least marked in my series has a few streaks only on the 

 middle of the breast and on the flanks, with one or two faint marks 

 on the under tail-coverts. In this state it is very like the Indian 

 L. straminea. The majority of the birds are densely streaked from 

 the chin to the tail-coverts, except on the abdomen, and all these 

 are characterized by a richer tone of colouring beneath. 



The tail-coverts vary in the most extraordinary manner. In 

 many of the birds they are entirely unmarked ; in others densely 

 streaked, and this apparently quite independently of the amount 

 of streaking on the other parts of the lower plumage. 



Legs fleshy white ; claws pale horn-colour ; upper mandible 

 dark brown, lower one yellow at base, brown at tip ; iris brown. 



Length rather more than 5 ; tail 1*8 ; wing 2*1 ; tarsus '75 ; bill 

 from gape *6 ; the second primary is generally intermediate in 

 length between the third and fourth, or equal to the fourth. 



Distribution. A winter visitor to Burma and the eastern portions 

 of India. The most westerly locality from which I have seen a 

 specimen is Etawah. This species probably extends throughout 

 Bengal ; I found it very abundant in Southern Pegu in rice-fields 

 and grass along the canal, from October to February, and Davi- 

 son procured it at various places in Tenasserim down to the 

 extreme south of that division. It is also known to occur in the 

 Andaman Islands. It summers in Central and Northern Asia and 

 in North-eastern Europe. 



362. Locustella straminea. The Turkestan Grassliopper- 

 WarUer. 



Acridiornis straminea, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 66 (1873) (descr. 

 nulla). 



Locustella certhiola (Pa//.), Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 159. 

 Locustella hendersoni (Cass.}, Butler, S. F. iii, p. 



479; Cripps,S.F. 



