PRINT A 141 



Bee-fin cisticole, French ; Cagachin, Buitron, Span. ; Becca, 

 moschino, Ital.; Cistenrohrsanger, German; Ghas-ka-phutki ) Wm.di.\ 

 Senniu, Jap. 



ad. (Corsica). Upper parts wings and middle tail-featliers blackish 

 brown, with rufous buff margins to the feathers, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts rufous buff, slightly marked with black ; other tail-feathers brown, 

 terminated with black, the lateral ones broadly tipped with white ; under 

 parts white, the breast washed with buff and the flanks with rufous ; bill 

 flesh colour, dark brown along the culmen ; legs pinkish ; iris light 

 yellowish brown. Culmen 0*48, wing T9, tail T85, tarsus 0*75 inch. 

 Female and young similar, but these latter are rather more fluffy in 

 plumage, and the under parts are tinged with buffy yellow. 



Hal). Southern Europe, Africa down to the Transvaal, Asia 

 Minor to India, China, and Japan ; the Malayan peninsula and 

 islands. 



Frequents grass-covered plains, fields, and localities covered 

 with tangled herbage, both where the soil is wet and dry, 

 and though not shy yet it is hard to dislodge from amongst the 

 dense herbage through which it creeps with ease. It feeds on 

 insects of various kinds, and casts up the indigestible portions 

 in the form of pellets. Its call note is a harsh teck, teck, and its 

 song which is uttered when the bird is perched on an exposed 

 twig or long grass-stem, is poor and of little compass. It 

 breeds from April to October according to locality, and its nest, 

 which is a neat, deep, purse-shaped structure with the opening 

 at the top, is constructed of fine dry grass-bents and rootlets, 

 carefully lined with wool, hair, and fibres, and is attached to 

 grass-stems or twigs, about a foot above the ground. The 

 eggs, 4 or 5 in number, vary considerably, being either pale 

 blue or white spotted with rufous, or occasionally pale pink 

 unspotted. Usually the spots are more numerous at the larger 

 end. In size they average about 0'62 by 0'45. 



PRINIA, Horsf. 1821. 



200. STREAKED WREN- WARBLER. 



PRINIA GRACILIS. 



Prinia gracilis (Cretzschm) in Rtipp. Atlas p. 3, tab. 2, fig. 6 (1826) ; 

 (Dresser), iii. p. 13, pi. 97 ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vii. p. 210. 



ad. (Adalia). Upper parts olivaceous grey, tinged with brown, 

 streaked with blackish brown, the streaks being nearly obsolete on the 

 rump ; wings blackish brown, externally margined with olivaceous grey ; 



