390 SYLVIIDJE. 



393. Arundinax aedon. The Thick-billed Warbler. 



Mascicapa aedon, Pall. Reise, iii ; p. 095 (1776). 



Phragamaticola olivacea, Bli/th, Jerd. Madr. Journ. L. S. xiii, pt. ii, 



p. 129 (1844). 

 Arundinax olivaceus (Blytli), Blytli, Cat. p. 181 ; Horsf. & M. Cat. 



\, p. 331 ; Jerd. 21. I. ii, p. 157. 

 Arundinax sedon (Pall.), Hume, S. F. ii, p. 234 ; Hume $Dav. 8. F. 



vi, p. 339 ; Hume, Cat. no. 518 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 98 ; Hume, S. F. 



xi, p. 202. 

 Lusciniola aedon (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat, B. M. v, p. 121. 



The Thick-billed Reed- Warbler, Jerd. 



Coloration. Upper plumage fulvous olive-brown, brightest on the 

 rump ; wing-coverts, quills, and tail brown, the first very broadly 

 and the two latter narrowly edged with the colour of the back : 

 lores whitish ; feathers round the eye pale fulvous ; ear-coverts and 

 sides of the head and neck like the back ; no eye-stripe : lower 

 plumage buffish white, lighter on the chin, throat, and abdomen, 

 and suffused with russet-brown on the flanks, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts ; axillaries and under wing-coverts buff. In summer the 

 lower parts are not so richly coloured. 



The young have the russet-brown of the lower parts more pro- 

 nounced than even the winter adult. 



Upper mandible dark horn-colour, lower one flesh-colour ; the 

 tips of both and the gape tinged with orange ; mouth bright salmon- 

 colour; iris umber-brown; eyelids bright plumbeous ; legs and feet 

 plumbeous ; claws horn-colour. 



Length 7'7 ; tail 3-5 ; wing 3'1 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape *88 ; 

 the first primary is very long, measuring nearly an inch in length. 



Distribution. A winter visitor to the eastern portion of the 

 Empire, being found throughout Burma, the hill-ranges of Eastern 

 Bengal, Cachar, Tipperah, Manipur, Assam, the Bhutan Doars, 

 Sikhim, both British and Native, the Nepal Terai, and the greater 

 part of Bengal. To the west it appears to be rare. Jerdon re- 

 cords it from the Carnatic, and 1 have examined a specimen pro- 

 cured at Bangalore. 



In winter it extends down the Malay peninsula and throughout 

 South-eastern Asia. It summers in North China and Siberia. 

 Nothing is known of its nidi fa* cation. 



Genus HYPOLAIS, Brehm, 1828. 



The genus Hypolais contains four Indian species so very like each 

 other, and so difficult to separate one from the other, that it would, 

 at first sight, seem preferable to unite them under one specific name. 

 The slight differences that exist between them appear, however, to 

 be correlated with geographical distribution, and so it is, on the 

 whole, better to recognize these differences. 



Hypolais moults twice in the year, but the moults are not accom- 

 panied by any visible change of colour in the plumage. The sexes 



