184 PYCNONOTIN2E. 



it breeding at Belgaum amongst long grass in September. It 

 is probably only a seasonal visitant. 



GENUS, Laticilla^ Blyth. 



Bill of moderate length, compressed, slender, nearly straight : 

 culmen gently curved, barely hooked at tip; a few distant, short 

 rictal setae ; wings short, rounded ; fourth and fifth quills 

 longest ; tail long, graduated ; the feathers very broad and soft ; 

 tarsus long ; middle-toe elongated ; lateral toes unequal ; hind- 

 toe rather short. 



Laticilla burnesii, Blyih. 



443. Eurycercus burnesii. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, 



p. 74 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 134. 

 THE LONG-TAILED REED BIRD. 



Length, 6'25 ; wing, 2'13 ; tail, 375 ; tusus, 0'8 ; bill at front, 

 04. 



Bill horny above, yellowish beneath ; irides brownish-yellow ; 

 legs yellow-brown. 



Above brownish-grey, with dark central streaks, mostly on 

 the scapulars and back ; tail faintly barred ; under parts 

 whitish, tinged with fulvescent on the flanks, and a shade of the 

 same on the side of the neck, where also a few mesial streaks 

 are distinct ; under tail-coverts ferruginous. 



Within our limits, the Long-tailed Reed Bird has only been 

 recorded from Sind, where in certain localities it is by no means 

 uncommon, especially in reed and tamarisk thickets. 



It breeds from March to September ; the nest is placed hf the 

 centre of a tussock of grassland is composed of coarse grass, lined 

 with finer grass. The eggs-, three or four in number, are of a 

 pale-greenish ground color, covered with irregular blotches of 

 purplisb -brown, but they vary a good deal. The eggs in my pos- 

 session average 072 inches in length by 0*53 in breadth. 



FAMILY, Brachypodidae. 



Legs and feet very short, only suited for perching; wings 

 moderate or rather long ; bill various, long and Thrush-like in 

 some, short and somewhat depressed in others. 



SUB-FAMILY, Pycnonotinee. 



Bill generally short, straight and depressed; rictal bristles 

 well developed ; nostrils exposed. 



GENUS, Hypsipetes, Vigors. 



Bill moderately strong, lengthened, nearly straight ; culmen 

 very slightly arched ; nostrils long, with some short tufts and a 

 few hairs at their base ; wings long, fourth and fifth* quills longest, 

 third nearly as long ; tail rather long, square or emarginate ; feet 



