MEGALUHUS. 383 



as some of its allies ; in fact, I have found it an easy bird to 

 observe. It has a fine song, loud and cheerful, uttered as the bird 

 flies up into the air and descends with motionless wings some 

 fifty yards from where it started. 



In M t -</it f urns the sexes are alike; the bill is strong; the wing 

 is less rounded than in most of the sedentary Warblers, the third 

 primary reaching to the tip of the wing, and the first being of very 

 large size. The tail is very much longer than the wing, pointed 

 and much graduated. The rictal bristles are strong, there are no 

 supplementary hairs, and the feathers of the forehead are remark- 

 ably short and close. Hume has drawn attention to the curious 

 formation of the foot : it is deeply cleft between the middle and 

 inner toe, and this latter is partially reversible. This peculiarity 

 explains the rapidity and ease with which the bird climbs about 

 amongst reeds and reed-grass. 



389. Megalurus palustris. The Striated Marsh- Warbler. 



Megalurus palustris, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 159 (1820) ; 

 Bli/th, Cat. p. 139 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 330 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, 

 p. 70 ; Hume, N. 8fE. p. 276 ; Sail, S. F. iv, p. 233 ; Hume $ Dav. 

 S. F. vi, p. 295 ; Hume, Cat. no. 440 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., 

 Aves, p. 639 ; Oates, S. F. x, p. 209 ; id. B. B. i, p. 106; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. vii, p. 123 ; Hume, S. F. xi ; p. 175 ; Oates in Hume's 

 N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 249. 



The Striated Marsh-Babbler, Jerd. ; lal-oggin, H. ; Nul-claypee, 

 Assam. 



Fig. 122. Head of M. palustris. 



Coloration. Upper plumage fulvous-brown, the head rather 

 rufous, and each feather with a dark brown or blackish stripe down 

 the shaft, the feathers of the back and scapulars each with a broad 

 black stripe down the middle ; wing-coverts blackish brown, broadly 

 edged with fulvous-brown; quills blackish brown, the primaries 

 narrowly, and the other quills broadly, edged with rufous-brown ; 

 tail fulvous-brown, the shafts and the portions of feathers near them 

 dusky ; a broad supercilium, becoming indistinct near the nape, 

 greyish white ; chin and throat white ; sides of the neck and all 

 the lower plumage earthy brown, tinged with buff on the flanks, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts ; a few streaks of brown on the breast 

 and under tail-coverts. 



The young are very similar to the adult, but they have the 

 supercilium and the whole lower plumage suffused with yellow ; 

 the adult plumage is assumed in February. 



