16 Hon. N. C. Rotliscliild and Mr. A. F. R. Wollastoa 
36. CisTicoLA cisTicoLA (Temm.). 
22 c?, 29 c?, 176 o^ 177 c?, 185 S, 18i ?, 302 ?, 
429(?). 
These little birds were exceedingly common in the grassy 
plain above mentioned and were never seen in the desert. 
They have a habit of rising almost vertically about thirty or 
forty feet into the air, singing their quaint little chattering 
song, and then dropping suddenly, as if dead, into the long 
grass. 
A nest containing three young birds was found on 
March 4th. 
37. CisTicoLA ARiDULA. (Plate I. fig. 1.) 
Cisticola aridula Witherby, Ibis^ 1901, p. 256. 
370 (sex?). 
This bird agrees perfectly with the type of C. aridula, 
which Mr. Witherby has kindly sent us for comparison. The 
subteraiinal black bars on the rectrices are not altogether 
absent in the type specimen ; but they are not so sharply 
defined as in C. cisticola, owing to the fact that the basal 
portion is much darker in C aridula than in C. cisticola. 
In our Shendi specimen the black subterminal bars are 
rather more distinct than in Mr. Witherby's example. 
The wing measures 47, the tail about 38 mm. 
In addition to the other characters described by Mr. Wi- 
therby, this bird differs from C. cisticola in the entirely 
white outer web of the outermost tail-feather j in this fea.ture 
it agrees with C. hindii. 
Our solitary specimen of this species was obtained on 
March 16th on the west bank of the Nile. It was found 
among the rank " half a-grass ^^ so much frequented by 
C. cisticola, and, when flying, w^as seen to be noticeably 
paler than that species ; but in other respects we are unable 
to say anything about its habits. 
38. BuRNESiA GRACILIS (Crctzsch.). 
179 c?,32 S, 112 (?,201 c?,48 ?, 205 ?. 
This little bird was common in the scrub on both sides of 
the river. It was ahvays to be seen in pairs, and began to 
breed about the end of February. Nests were found on 
