Birds of Celebes: Sylviidae. 523 



Prjevalsky and God lews ki say it arrives in May in Amurland, where its song 

 can be heard till the end of summer; it breeds in June and July and disappears 

 in September. Similarly in the neighbourhood of Pekin it arrives in great 

 numbers about May, nests among the reeds in the marshes and leaves in Sep- 

 tember .David d4). Blakiston and Pryer (c 6) record its arrival at Tokio, 

 Japan, at the end of April; Seebohm records (32) a specimen captured at 

 Sea 4(J miles north of one of the Loochoo Islands on May 24**". In Central 

 China, the lower Yangtse Basin, Mr. Styan (30) remarks that "thousands arrive 

 towards the end of April to breed in the reed-beds of the Yangtse, and remain 

 till the end of October or middle of November". Further south in China Mr 

 De La Touche (31) found it very abundant in summer. Its chief winter- 

 quarters seem to be Burmah and Borneo, and much may ultimately be learnt 

 of its winter movements in the less-known Siamese Peninsula. Mr. E. W. Oates 

 (4) writes that in Pegu "it arrives in great numbers about the 1 S"" November 

 and stays in undiminished quantities till the 31"' May at the least. On its first 

 arrival it affects bamboo bushes, thick clumps of grass, and patches of weeds; 

 but as the season progresses, and the Peepul trees come out into leaf, its 

 haunts become chiefly arboreal" — a singular departure from the ordinary habits 

 of a Reed-warbler, as Mr. Oates rightly points out. In the East India Islands, 

 with the exception of Borneo where a good number of specimens have been 

 obtained during the northern winter, few examples have as yet been found, 

 perhaps because it is really rare here and must be regarded as a straggler, or 

 perhaps also because its plain plumage and skulking habits lead to its being 

 disregarded or overlooked by collectors. Only five of the Philippines have so 

 far furnished specimens, Meyer got it in Luzon in February, in Cebu in March, 

 Whitehead in Luzon in November, Steere in Cebu in January and in Mindanao 

 in October, while a specimen of Platen's from Palawan in the Dresden Museum 

 is dated December^). In Java Dr. Vorderman (d 8) writes that he has only 

 received a couple of specimens, killed in the rainy season Oct. — April). 



From Celebes itself the following only have been recordect: one or more 

 in the Tweeddale Collection (2) from Manado, one in the Brunswick (17) and 

 one in the St. Petersburg Museum (17), one killed by Prof. Weber at Tempe 

 (33), two in the Dresden Museum, one sent by Bruijn's hunters from Manado 

 to Count Salvadori with the date July (d3''''), 3 obtained by the Sarasins 

 at Tondano in November, 1894, and one at Tomohon, IS'" May, 1894. Although 

 the date July may be correct, as that of an individual left behind in the general 

 migration, the facts before us render it pretty certain that A. orientalis is only 

 a winter visitant to Celebes and the neighbouring islands. 



Its other habits are said to correspond with those of the Great Reed-warbler 

 of Europe (Prejevalsky d 5, Godlewski el). 



1 W. Blasius has spoken of this collection as having been formed in summer (Omis 18S8, 302)! 



66* 



