234 MOTACILLINJE. 



Sylvia nana, Hemp, fy Ehr. 



5836is. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 163. 

 THE DESERT WARBLER. 



Length, 4r8 to 4'9 ; expanse, 7 to 7*2 ; wing, 2 to 2*2 ; tail, 1'8 

 to 2 ; tarsus, 0'8 ; bill at front, 0'33. 



Bill pale yellow, dusky on culmen and at tip ; irides orange- 

 yellow ; legs and feet pale yellow. 



The lores are greyish-white ; from the nostril to the upper 

 margin of the eye runs a very narrow yellowish-streak, whiter 

 and less grey than the lores ; this line ceases to be visible in 

 nine out of ten skins, but is sufficiently apparent in the freshly 

 killed bird ; a circle of yellowish-white feathers surrounds the 

 eye ; forehead, crown, occiput, nape, back, and scapulars, pale 

 fawn-brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts pale rufous ; central 

 tail-feathers pale rufous, with dark shafts ; external lateral fea- 

 thers wholly white, next pair white on the outer webs, and 

 with a moderately broad white tip to both webs ; the rest of the 

 inner webs dark hair-brown ; the rest of the feathers dark hair- 

 brown, margined on the outer webs with pale rufous ; the whole 

 of the lower parts white, with, in the freshly killed birds, a just 

 perceptible rufous tinge ; wing-lining and axillaries pure white ; 

 wing pale-brown, narrowly margined and tipped with rufescent- 

 white ; the tertiaries pale dingy-rufescent with brown shafts. 



Within our limits this Warbler only occurs in the more desert- 

 like portion of Sind and in the Runn of Kutch. It is appa- 

 rently a permanent resident as Mr. Doig found them breeding in 

 October. 



SUB-FAMILY, Motacillinae. 



Bill generally of moderate length, slender, straight, barely 

 deflected at the tip, and indistinctly notched ; rictal vibrissae 

 minute or wanting ; wings typically long or pointed, and the 

 tertiaries lengthened ; tail long ; tarsus moderately long and 

 slender ; toes moderate ; claws slightly curved ; the hind-claw 

 often long and straight. 



GENUS, Motacilla, Lin. 



Bill moderate, straight, slender, compressed at the tip, which 

 is very slightly notched ; nostrils apert ; rictus almost smooth ; 

 wings long, pointed, with nine primary quills, the first two sub- 

 equal and longest ; tertiaries lengthened, equal to the primaries ; 

 tail longr, slender, nearly even ; tarsus moderately long, slender, 

 obscurely scutellate ; feet moderate ; hind-toe short ; claws slightly 

 curved ; hind-claw small, more curved. 



Motacilla maderaspatensis, Gm. 



589. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 217 ; M. maderaspa- 

 tana, Briss. ; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 489 ; 



