LOCUSTELLA 133 



north to Kamchatka ; China on passage, and winters in Burma, 

 and India as far west as Etawah, and south to the Andaman 

 Islands. 



Frequents damp, marshy localities, willow bushes, and reeds 

 on the borders of water, and skulks closely amongst the dense 

 herbage, so that it may almost be trodden on before it will rise, 

 and runs rapidly along the ground. Its song, which may be 

 heard throughout the day, is a piping vibrating sound resembling 

 the note of a locust and sounds sometimes as if quite near, 

 and at others as far away though the bird may be quite close. 

 It feeds almost entirely on aquatic insects of various kinds. Its 

 nest, which is placed in damp localities on the ground and most 

 carefully concealed, is neatly constructed of dry grasses a little 

 moss and small leaves, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs, 

 usually 5 in number closely resemble those of the Grasshopper- 

 Warbler bat are smaller, averaging* in size about 0*71 by 

 0-51. 



189. PALLAS'S GRASSHOPPER- WARBLER. 

 LOCUSTELLA CERTHIOLA. 



Locustella certhiola, (Pall.) Zoogr. Koss. As. i. p. 509 (1871) ; Gould, B. 

 of E. ii. pi. 105 ; (Naumaim), xiii. pt. 2, p. 1*1 ; Dresser, ii. p. 633, 

 pi. 94 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 114 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. i. 

 p. 352 ; PJeske, Orn. Eoss. ii. p. 597 ; L. rulescens, Blyth, J. As. 

 Soc. Beng. xiv. p. 582. 



Camishcvka-priatlivaya, Russ. 



ad. (E. Siberia.) Crown and nape dark brown striped with buffygrey ; 

 upper parts warm ochreous brown blotched with blackish brown, rump less 

 marked ; wings and tail brown with external lighter margins, the latter 

 darker towards the tip, and tipped with greyish white 5 superciliary stripe 

 greyish white ; under parts white, the breast, flanks, and undert ail- coverts 

 washed with buff, the last tipped with white : bill brown, the under 

 mandible ochraceous at the base ; legs fleshy white ; iris brown. Culmen 

 0*55, wing 2'8, tail 2'33, tarsus 0'9, inch. Sexes alike. Young birds have 

 the upper parts darker, the under parts yellowish and the throat striated. 



Hcib. Siberia from the Yenesei to the Pacific, and from the 

 mouth of the Amur to the Altai range ; China on passage, and 

 winters in Burma, India, and the Malay archipelago ; has once 

 occurred as far west as Heligoland. 



Frequents marshes, swampy, bush-covered places on the 

 borders of rivers, and places which are covered with long grass ; 

 is very shy and skulking in its habits, and when flushed flies 



