522 Birds of Celebes: Sylviidae. 



d 4; Seebohm 11; Salvaclori d 7; W. Blasius 17; Vorderman d 8; Tacza- 

 nowski e 1. 



Adult. Above dark yellowish broccoli-brown, more cinnamon on rump and wing-coverts; 

 quills and tail darker brown, edged with the colour of the rump, tipped with 

 whitish; lores and sui^erciliary stripe buff-white; under-parts buff-white, shghtly 

 streaked with brown on the chest, and becoming buff' on the sides, flanks and under 

 wing-coverts, and bro^vner on tliighs (IVIuiahassa, 3528). 



Iris pale wood-brown; legs lead-grey; bill horn-brown; interior of gape oi-ange 

 (Everett 7). 



Sex. The sexes are similar in pliunage. 



Young. The young in iirst plumage differ fi'om the adults in having the upper parts of a 

 more russet tint, the under-parts more strongly washed with isabelline; no trace of 

 dark streaks on the fore-neck'); quills and tail edged with russet. Bill yellow-brownish, 

 edged with yellow on both mandibles; feet flesh-colour (Taczanowski el). 



Measurements (2). Wing 87, 92; tail 80, 82; bill from nostril 12, 14; tarsus 29, 31 mm. 



Eggs. Usually o, a little smaller than those of A. turdoides; shghtly glossy; often perfectly 

 elhptical; ground-colour deHcate blue or pale du-ty greenish, with underlying spots of 

 ashy grey or olivaceous grey, and superjacent ones of olive-brownish mingled with 

 others nearly black — the spots being irregular in shape and size, but usually evenly 

 distributed over the egg (Argona River, E. Siberia — Tacz. el). 



Nest. Not differing from that of the European Great Reed-warbler in constraction. in 

 materials and chmensious (Godlewski e 1). 



Distribution. Mongolia (Prjevalsky d 5, d 9); E. Siberia — Ussuiiland, S. Dauria and Amur- 

 land (Dybowski and Godlewski c 4, c 5, el, Prjevalsky d 5), Askold Id. (Dorries 

 d 6, d 10); Japan (Blakiston, etc. c 2, 27); China (Swinhoe, etc. c 3, d 4, 18, 30, 31); 

 Pegu (Gates 4, 14, 23); Andamans (Wimberley 11, 14, 23); Tenasserim (Davison 

 14, 23); Malay Peninsula — Salanga Id. (J. Weber 13); Sumatra (Hartert 22, 

 Leyden Mus. d7); Java (Vorderman d 8, v. Schierbr. in Dresd. Mus.); Lombok 

 (Wallace 11, d 7); Borneo (Everett, etc. 6, 7, 21, 25); Philippines — Palawan (Platen 

 19, 20, 28), Luzon (Meyer .5, Whitehead 35), Cebu (Meyer 5, Steere 26), Min- 

 danao (Steere 26), Mindoro fB. & W. 34); Celebes — North (Bruijn rf S"«, Riedel 

 17, Faber in Dresd. Mus., P.& F. Sarasin 36), — South: Tempe (Weber 33); PTernate 

 (Rosenberg <l 7); Batchian and Morty (Wallace d 7). 



This species, commonly spoken of as the Eastern representative of the 

 Great Reed-warbler, A. turdoides, differs from the European bird by its legs 

 and feet being lead-colour, instead of pale horn, by its somewhat smaller size 

 and proportionally larger bill: and according to Prof. W. Blasiirs the diminutive 

 first quill is less reduced. In Pegu the Indian Great Reed-warbler, Acrocephalus 

 stentorms (Hemp. & Ehr.), occurs with the present species in winter, and Oates 

 considers that they can only be discriminated when the wings are fully grown 

 and perfect: in stentorius the second quill is equal to or shorter than the fifth, 

 in orientalis it is usually equal to the fourth and hardly shorter than the third, 

 which is longest. 



A. orie?italis is known to ornithologists in Eastern Asia as a migrant, breed- 

 ing in East Siberia, China and Japan, and departing south for the winter. 



1) Seebobm (iij bolds tbis to be a cbaracter of tbe first plumage. 



