374 SYLVIID.E. 



and probably throughout the rains, constructing a beautiful nest, 

 composed entirely of the flowering heads of grass, and attached to 

 several stalks of grass growing in a thick clump. The eggs are a 

 pale blue spotted with rusty brown, and measure *55 by *43. 



381. Cisticola cursitans. The Rufous Fantail- Warbler. 



Sylvia cisticola, Temm. Man. d'Om. 2 e ed. i, p. 228. pi. (1820) ; id. 



PL Col. pi. 6, tig. 3 (1820). 

 Prinia cursitans, FranU. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 118. 

 Cisticola schcenicola, Bp. Comp. List S. JEur. fy N. Amer. p. ]2 



(1838) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 145 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 174 j Hume, N. $ E. 



p. 343; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. ii, pi. x, fig. 2. 

 Cisticola omalura, Blyth, Cat. p. 145 ; id. J. A. 8. B. xx, p. 176 (1851 ). 

 Cisticola homalura, Hume, S. F. v, pp. 90, 350; id. Cat. no. 541 bis. 

 Cisticola cursitans (Frankl.), Blyth, Cat. p. 145; Horsf. fy M. Cat. 



j, p. 324; Hume, S. F. v, p. 90; id. Cat. no. 539; Legge, Birds 



Ceyl. p. 531 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 217 ; Gates in Hume's N. & 



K 2nd ed. i, p. 236. 

 Cisticola manipurensis, Godw.-Aust. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 47; id. J. A. 



S. B. xliii, pt. ii, p. 165, pi. ix, fig. 1 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 397, v, 



p. 90 ; id. Cvt. no. 539 bis. 

 Cisticola cisticola (Temm.'), Oates, B. B. i, p. 115; Sharne, Cat. 



^.M.vii,p.259. 



The Rufous Grass- Warbler, Jerd.; Ghas ka-phutki or Ghas ka-pit- 

 pitti, Hind. ; Yedru-jitta, Tel. ; Kher-yhusa, II. at Bhagulpore ; Tuntunia, 

 at Monghyr. 



Fig. 118. Bill of C. cursitans. 



Coloration. In summer the whole upper plumage is dark brown 

 or black, with rufous margins to all the feathers; rump plain 

 rufous ; wings and coverts dark brown, edged with fulvous ; tail 

 brown, edged with rufous, broadly tipped white, subterminally deep 

 black, and with a rufous patch in front of this black ; lores, super- 

 cilium, cheeks, and the whole lower plumage buffy white ; ear- 

 coverts brownish. 



In winter the plumage is practically the same as in summer, but 

 the tail is without the rufous patches above the subterminal black 

 spots. 



Iris light yellowish brown ; bill flesh-coloured, dark along the 

 culmeri ; legs and claws pinkish ; mouth black at the breeding- 

 season, dusky at other times. 



In summer the length is about 4*5; tail 1-5; wing 2'1 ; tarsus 

 8 ; bill from gape '6 ; in winter the tail measures 1*75, and the 

 total length is correspondingly increased. 



Distribution. Every portion of the Empire and Ceylon where the 

 country is suitable, but not on hills at any great elevation. Outside 



