656 Mr. J. D. D. La Touche uu the [Ibis, 



sedgy grass of tlie locality. Ou this occasion the bicds 

 behaved like Grasshop[)er- Warblers, and wluni on the \ving 

 looked like pule-eoloured Locnstellce. A high wind was 

 blowing, and [)robably on this acconnt they took but very 

 short flights and dro])ped into the grass a few paces ahead, 

 rising again when I was close upon them. After being put 

 up once or twice they flea- with a swift, low, and straight 

 flight into the j heels, whei'e they iiid iu the sedges. I managed 

 to secure two or three, and having run short of co]lec;ting 

 cartridges, I was returning home, when T met a party of 

 men out hawking with Sparrow-IIawks. These men had 

 taken several of the Warblers^ and on my^ off"ering a small 

 reward they proceeded to catch me some. Several of the 

 birds thus caught were sufficiently uninjured to be made 

 into fair skins. On the way across the plain I put up one 

 out of the crops. The breeding-quarters of this Warbler 

 have yet to be discovered. Probably Manchuria is the 

 loealit}'. 



40. Rhopopliilus pekinensis (Swinhoe). 



Rli.opoj)Jiilus pekinensis U. & (). p. 260, pi. 19. 



The North China Hill-Warbler is very common in the 

 mountains of north-east Chihli. I met with it among scrub 

 oak about twenty miles north of Chinwangtao, and have 

 specimens shot much nearer the port as well as a series from 

 the Cliien An district. A single l)ird appeared at the port in 

 October 1915, and remained there during about two months. 

 In the spring of 1917, after the pruning of the acacia 

 plantations, one individual was again conspicuous, but 

 unfortunately it was trapped by a Chinese and soon died. 

 The body was brought to me. It was a female^ much soiled 

 with coal smoke, and was probably the bird seen eighteen 

 months before. A cage-bird of this species ofl'ered to me 

 for sale was so tame that its owner would let it out in the 

 open, the bird returning obediently wdien called. I had a 

 live bird, trapped in May 1917, which soon became very 

 tame. This bird, which I had put in a cage containing 

 Buntings, Finches, etc., when it siivv me coming into the 



