158 PASSERES. TURDID^l. 



AURORA WARBLER.* 

 Sylvicola eoa. MIHI. 



THE pair of singularly marked Warblers which I 

 describe below, were shot on the 21st and 24th of 

 January at Crabpond. That the male in summer 

 plumage would be much more brilliant than my 

 specimen, I have no doubt, for the latter is inferior 

 to the female, and the patched character of the 

 plumage indicates that a seasonal change was then 

 proceeding. If it has been described in its nuptial 

 livery I have failed to recognise it. The male, 

 which was the first obtained, was hopping about the 

 mangroves, which are abundant at the marshy place 

 named, from the summits down to the very surface 

 of the water ; and the female was one of a pair that 

 were toying, and chasing each other through the 



* Length 5 inches, expanse 7^, flexure 2^, tail 1-^, rictus -f^, 

 (nearly), tarsus -^, middle toe ^. Irides dark hazel ; feet horn-colour ; 

 beak pale horn, culmen and tip darker. Male. Upper parts olive, ap- 

 proaching to yellow on the rump : sides of head marked with a band of 

 orange, extending from the ear to the beak, and meeting both on the fore- 

 head and on the chin. Wing quills and coverts blackish with yellowish 

 edges. Tail blackish olive, with yellow edges ; the outermost two fea- 

 thers on each side, have the greatest portion of the inner webs pale yel- 

 low. Under parts pale yellow. The crown, rump, tertials, belly, 

 and under tail-coverts, are sparsely marked with undefined patches of pale 

 orange. Female. Nearly as the male, but the deep orange is spread over 

 the whole cheeks, chin, throat, and breast. The head and back are dusky 

 grey, tinged with olive, and patched with the fulvous, much more 

 largely, but irregularly, and as if laid upon the darker hue. 



