13ft A FIRST LIST OF THE 



to Dacca. As I have mentioned (Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 439), 

 the plumage of this species varies very materially, as also does 

 the length of the hill ; but this is the case in every locality. 

 Thus, here one of the birds sent by Mr. Oates has an entirely 

 streakless olive brown head, whilst another has the head bright 

 pale fulvous, each feather with a broad black central streak, and 

 had Mr. Oates shot a sufficient series, he would doubtless have 

 obtained, as I have elsewhere, specimens exhibiting every pos- 

 sible intermediate variation of coloring. I am myself persuaded 

 that not a few of the new Cisticola described of late years 

 are nothing but stages of plumage of one and the same species. 

 I have been rather fortunate in obtaining most of the neces- 

 sary materials, and I hope shortly to be able to review this 

 genus. 



Mr. Oates remarks that this species " is very common in all 

 paddy lands in the rains." 



547.— Suya crinigera, Ebdgs. 



A single specimen from Thayetmyo agrees well with some 

 specimens from the Himalayas. This is a species which varies 

 much in size and in plumage, and though no doubt the males 

 are always larger than the females, this is not the sole reason 

 of the difference, as you get small males also. Sometimes the 

 whole upper surface, the head especially, is very strongly striated 

 with dark brown, and the bird has quite a ruddy tint ; at other 

 times the striations are almost obsolete, and the whole upper 

 surface is a dull earthy brown. I think the changes of plumage 

 of this species require investigation ; it is possible that some birds 

 that I have passed by as crinigera really belonged to obscura. 



Mr. Oates says : " This is not uncommon immediately round 

 the Thayetmyo cantonments ; I have seen it nowhere else. It 

 likes to sit on the topmost bough of a rather high tree, or less 

 frequently on a shrub, and to sing a weak grating song which 

 lasts for two or three minutes. A male I shot measured : 

 Length, 7; expanse, 7"3; tail, from vent, 3 - 3; wing, 2-25; bill, 

 from gape, 0*68; tarsus, 1*0. 



" The irides were pale brownish yellow ; the bill, black, paler at 

 base of lower mandible ; the inside of the mouth, black ; eyelids, 

 plumbeous ; feet, yellowish ; claws, pale horny ." 



These are scarcely the habits of Suya crinigera in the Himalay- 

 as ; there they avoid towns and villages, and affect open sunny 

 slopes, at an elevation of 2,000 to 4,000 feet, where there is 

 some stunted scrub and a little high grass, in amongst which 

 scrub and grass they thread their way, comparatively rarely 

 showing themselves, except during the breeding season, and in 

 some little thorny bush amongst which they build their flimsy 

 little nest. 



