218 DRYMOICIN.E. 



towards the end, and with a broad whitish tip ; plumage beneath 

 rufescent-white, nearly pure white on the chin and throat, 

 and more rufescent on the flanks ; tail beneath cinereous at 

 the base, then pale rufous, with a black bar, and a broad white 

 tip, in some uniform dusky-cinereous. 



The Rufous Grass Warbler is a common permanent resident 

 in most portions of our limits, and breeds during the monsoon. 

 It makes a long tubular nest, composed of soft white vegetable 

 down, in the centre of a clump of grass, a short distance only 

 from the ground. The eggs, usually five in number, are oval 

 in shape, white or greenish- white in color, thickly speckled with 

 tiny spots of reddish-brown. These spots often show a tendency 

 to form a zone around the larger end. 



They measure 0*58 in length by 0*46 in breadth. 



GENUS, Drymoipus, Bonap. 



(Drynweca.) 



Bill short or of moderate length, nearly entire, rather deep at 

 the base ; culmen moderately curving ; rictus bristled ; wings 

 very short and rounded ; the first three quills nearly equal, 

 graduated, fourth and fifth longest ; tail graduated, long, of ten 

 feathers, the feathers obtuse ; tarsus long ; feet moderate ; claws 

 moderately curved. 



Drymoipus inornata, Sykes. 



(Drynwsca.) 



543. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 178 ; 543bis.D. 

 terricolor, Hume ; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, 

 p. 481 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 407 ; Murray's 

 Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 153 ; Prinia inornata, Sykes ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 126. 



THE COMMON WREN WARBLER. 



Length, 5 to 5'5 ; wing, 175 to 1-8 ; tail, 275 ; tarsus, 0'8, 

 bill at front, 0'4. 



Bill dusky-brown above, yellowish or fleshy at the base beneath ; 

 irides brownish-yellow ; legs fleshy -yellow. 



Head and back greyish-brown, with an olivaceous tinge on the 

 head and hind-neck ; wings brown, edged pale rufous ; tail rufous 

 or brownish, with a terminal dark spot, and the centre tail- 

 feathers obsoletely banded; a whitish supercilium and whitish 

 lores and chin ; beneath whitish, with a faint fulvescent tinge ; 

 thighs pale fulvescent-brown. 



It is now generally admitted by ornithologists that the birds 

 described by Dr. Jerdon under Nos. 543 and 544, viz., D. 

 inornata and D. longicaudatus are the same in different phases 

 of plumage, the principal difference being the longer tail of 

 the latter. 



The Common or Earth-brown Wren Warbler is a permanent 



