138 CETTIA 



Hob. Southern Europe and north Africa from Portugal to 

 Asia Minor, Palestine, Transcaspia, and Turkestan, east to the 

 Central Asiatic desert region. 



Unobtrusive and shy in its habits Cetti's Warbler is a 

 difficult bird to watch. It frequents damp bush-covered 

 localities, over-grown ditches, and also dry places in close 

 proximity to water. Its song is clear and loud but short, and 

 is like the first part of a Nightingale's song suddenly cut short, 

 and it sings both by day and at night. Its nest is placed in a 

 bush two or three feet from the ground, is deep, cup-shaped, 

 constructed of small sedge-pieces, marsh-cotton and shreds of 

 plants, and lined with fine grass, a few hairs and bits of cotton, 

 and the eggs, 4 or 5 in number, are deposited in May, and are 

 uniform bright brick red, sometimes with a pinkish tinge and 

 average about 0'75 by 0*55 in size. 



Mr. Gates considers the form which occurs in India to be 

 specifically separable from our bird, in being larger and having 

 the upper parts paler, but I do not agree with this view. 



195. CHINESE BUSH- WARBLER. 

 CETTIA CANTURIANS. 



Cettia canturians (Swinhoe) Ibis, 1860, p. 52 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit, 

 Mus. v. p. 141; (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, i. p. 438 ; Pleske, 

 Orn. Koss. ii. p. 644, Taf. iv. fig. 3 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. 

 p. 230 ; Homochlamys luscinia ; Salvad. Att. Accad. Sc. For. v. 

 p. 511 (1870). 



g ad. (China). Upper parts wings and tail russet brown, on the back 

 tinged with olivaceous ; supercilium indistinct, buffy white ; under parts 

 white, the breast, , flanks, and under tail-coverts pale buffy brown; bill 

 above brown, below flesh colour ; legs pale brownish flesh ; iris hazel. 

 Culmen 07, wing 3*0, tail 2'95, tarsus I'l inch ; first quill about half the 

 length of the second, which is about equal to the secondaries, fourth and 

 fifth about equal and longest. Sexes alike. In the autumn the upper 

 parts are more russet in tinge, and the under parts are rather darker. The 

 young resemble the adult in autumn dress, but the colouration of the 

 plumage is more pronounced. 



Hob. North China and the Ussuri country as far north as 

 Lake Hanka, and winters in southern China. 



It avoids the plains even where there is tree growth, and 

 affects mountain districts where black birches grow, on the 

 precipices which are covered with under-brush. Its alarm- note 

 resembles the syllable tek frequently repeated, and its song 



