the Birds of Chinkiang. 437 



with a cry not unlike that of a Zosterops, and after wheeling 

 about in mid-air would settle again in a neighbouring patch 

 of reeds. Although I did not happen to see any of the 

 birds during subsequent shooting-expeditions, there is no 

 doubt that they are to be found every winter in the reed-beds 

 on the river. 



13. Suthora webbiana Gray. 



Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 33G ; La Touche, Ibis, 1899, 

 p. 189. 



A breeding pair shot on May 7 and a male shot on 

 June 10 differ only from the spring and summer birds from 

 N.W. Fohkien in not having the red of the head and neck 

 extended so far down the back. Three birds shot in April 

 are very much duller, while six skins obtained in winter are 

 intermediate between Shanghai and N.W. Fohkien speci- 

 mens, and are very like Anhwei skins. Chinkiang birds 

 would thus appear to be, on the whole, a less bright form of 

 Suthora webbiana (Suthora suffusa Sw.) of Fohkien. I 

 must here correct a slip which I made in my notes on this 

 bird (' Ibis,' 1899, p. 18D) . I then wrote that all the Kuatun 

 breeding birds " have the intensely ruddy head and neck 

 well separated from the grey-brown back"; this should read 

 " have the intensely ruddy head, neck, and upper back, in 

 worn specimens, well separated from the lower back." Birds 

 in fresh plumage have the lower back also somewhat suffused 

 with red. The difference between N.W. Fohkien winter- and 

 summer-birds is that the head, neck, and upper-back are 

 browner in the former. 



This Suthora is extremely common about Chinkiang, both 

 on the scrub-covered hills and in the plain. It breeds in 

 April, May, and throughout June. Without doubt two 

 broods are reared, as full-fledged young are about in May 

 and June. I have found nests in nettle-beds in the plain 

 and on reeds in dry and flooded reed-beds. Two of those 

 found on reeds were built at a height of about ten feet from 

 the ground, but, as a rule, the nests are placed no higher than 

 four or five feet from the ground or water. Nests taken from 



