ACEOCEPHALUS. 357 



Coloration. Upper plumage olive-brown tinged with fulvous, 

 especially on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings and tail 

 brown, edged on the outer webs with fulvous-brown ; lores darker ; 

 a pale indistinct supercilium buffish white ; ear-coverts and sides of 

 the ueok like the back ; chin and throat nearly white ; remainder 

 of lower plumage fulvous, paling on the abdomen. The throat 

 and breast in some specimens are streaked with brown. 



Fig. 114. Head of A. stentoreus. 



Iris yellowish brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; mouth orange-yellow ; 

 upper mandible dark brown, edges and the whole lower mandible 

 dusky flesh-colour; legs plumbeous. 



Length 7*7 ; tail 3 ; wing 3'2 ; tarsus 1-15 ; bill from gape 1 ; 

 the second primary equals the fifth, or is sometimes shorter, and 

 falls short of the tip of the wing by *15. 



Distribution. Throughout the plains of India in suitable locali- 

 ties in winter, from the base of the Himalayas to Ceylon, and from 

 Sind to Assam, and southwards from Assam to Southern Pegu. 



Many birds remain in the plains during the summer, and their 

 nests have been found in the Eastern Nara, Sind, and in Ceylon. 

 Others, probably the majority, repair for the summer to Kashmir 

 and the Himalayas in general, and some to Central Asia. This 

 bird and A. orientalis remain in Burma till the middle of May, and 

 it is probable that both species may breed there or not far off. 



Habits, $-c. Constructs a nest of coarse grass attached to reeds 

 in or near water. The nest is cup-shaped, deep, and rather 

 massive. The breeding-season appears to be from June to August. 

 The eggs, generally four in number, are pale green or stone-colour, 

 marked with various colours from black to reddish. They measure 

 about -89 by -61. 



364. Acrocephalus orientalis. The Eastern Great Reed-Warbler. 



Salicaria turdina orientalis, Temm. $ ScJileg. Fann. Jap., Aves, p. 50, 

 pi. xx B (1850). 



Acrocephalus orientalis (Temm. $ Schleg.}, Oates, S. F. iii, p. 337 ; 

 Hume # Dav. S. F. vi,p. 338; Hume, Cat. no. 515 bis; Seebohm, 

 Cat. B. M. v, p. 97 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 213 ; id. B. B. \, p. 93. 



Coloration. Precisely similar to that of A. stentoreus, except that 

 the throat and breast are generally much streaked with brown, 

 and I have hardly ever seen a specimen in which this streaking 

 was entirely absent. In summer the lower plumage becomes 

 paler. 



