il 



518 Birds of Celebes: Sylviidae. 



Figures and descriptions. Gould, B. Austr. HI, pi. 42 (exiUs), pi. 43 (liyieicapilkij, pi. 44 

 (isura), pi. 45 (ruficeps) — if fully identical with Celebes birds; Sliarpe, Cat. B. 

 Vn, 270, 271; Walden a 1\ Salvadori b 1. 



Adult [male in breeding plumage]. Head above raw sienna, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 cinnamon; hind neck, mantle and upijer wing-coverts broccoli-bro^vn, the mesial 

 part of the feathers black; quills and tail blackish, externally edged and tipped 

 ■viiih. cinnamon; lores and entire under parts white, washed with rufous buff, 

 most strongly on sides, flanks, and sides of neck; quills below brown, where they 

 rest upon the body pale cinnamon; tail below greyish brown with an obscure broad 

 blackish subterminal band, the outermost feather indistinctly barred (ad. Tadjong piso 

 near Manado, Minahassa, 4. VHI. 93: Nat. Coll. — C 12714). Bill pale, darker 

 above; legs pale. "Wing 45, 46 mm; tail 34, 35; tarsus 19, 19.5; bill fiom nostril 

 7.5 (2 specimens). 



Nestlings (3, apparently lielonging to this species). Differ from the adult in having the head 

 like the mantle, raw umber, the middles of the feathers blackish; sides of body bro\\iier 

 (S. Celebes: Eibbe & Kiihn — C 7085 and 4507—8). 



Eggs. Some eggs described in Mr. Nehrkorn's manuscript as those of C. c^^mtois are more 

 likely, we think, to belong to the present s^jecies, since C. cursitans has never been 

 recorded fi'om North Celebes and not often fi-om the island at all. "Dr. Platen 

 collected a niunber of eggs in Celebes (Rurukan) wliich- belong to the blue varieties. 

 They have a light blue ground mth numerous small liver-brown spots thereon, form- 

 ing a circlet at the large end. It is to be expected that eggs otherwise coloured also 

 occur there, for no bird displays so many coloiu-varieties in its eggs as the Cisticoliiiae.'''' 



Nest. If the above nestlings are correctly determined as C. exilis, two nests in the Dresden 

 Museum should belong to this species. One (S. Celebes: Ribbe & Kiihn — Nr. 1598) 

 is almost entii'ely composed of plant-wool, externally walled vnth leaves; the other 

 (S. Celebes : R. & K. — Nr. 1 599) is similarly walled with leaves and composed of grasses 

 and plant-wool; both of them deep cup-shape. 



Distribution. Celebes — Minahassa (Nat. Coll. in Dresden Museum, P. &F. Sarasin 2j; 

 Tawaya, W. Celebes (Doherty 5); Kandari, S. E. Peninsula (Beccari 6ij; Macassar 

 (Weber 1); Palopo, Boni Gulf (P.&. F. Sarasin 5); Luwu (Weber 1); Togian 

 (Meyer c 1); Pehng Id. (Nat. Coll. 4). Dr. Sharpe ascribes to C. exilis the follow- 

 ing range: "All over Australia, extending northward through many of the Papuan and 

 Moluccan islands to the Phihppines and Formosa; also occurring in the Malayan Penin- 

 sula and throughout the Burmese countries and Assam, extending into Eastern Bengal.'' 



The first specimens from Celebes obtained by Meyer were originally de- 

 scribed by Lord Walden as a distinct species, Philippine specimens being 

 afterwards united by him with them. Dr. Sharpe holds the following opinions 

 on the sexual and seasonal variation of this species: the full-plumaged female 

 is different from the male and has the head striped; in winter the male may 

 ultimately be found to resemble the female ; in this season the tail is longer, 

 as in so many winter plumages of Cisticolae; in Australia C. ruficeps is the adult 

 male , C. exilis is the bird in full winter plumage , while C. isura is only the 

 square-tailed, summer-plumaged female bird. Whether local differences be finally 

 found to exist or not, ornithologists may be grateful to Dr. Sharpe for uniting 

 a heap of disconnected items as one species, and for pointing out the changes 

 of this bird with age, sex and season. C. celebensis, Salvad. , a name overlooked 



