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Genus DRYMCECA. 



Bill stouter and shorter than in the foregoing genera of the subfamily. Nostrils linear ; 

 rictal bristles stout but few. Wings with the 4th, 5th, and 6th quills the longest, and the 1st 

 more than half the length of the 5th. Tail of 10 feathers, graduated and moderately long. 

 Legs and feet stout ; tarsi covered with strong and prominent scutse, and longer than the middle 

 toe and claw ; claws strongly scaled ; hind toe and claw large. 



Nuchal hairs much developed in some species. 



DRYMCECA VALIDA. 



(THE ROBUST WREN- WARBLER.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Drymoica robusta, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. 812; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 142 



(1849). 

 Drymmca valida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1851, xx. p. 180 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 



(1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 262 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 302. 

 Drymoijous validus, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 182 (1863); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 457 ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21, et 1875, p. 397. 

 Suya robusta, Bonap. Consp. vol. i. p. 281 (1850). 



Similis D. jerdoni, sed robustior, alis caudaque longioribus, et rostro toto nigro, robustiore et inagis curvato distinguenda. 



Adult male and female. Length 6-0 to 6-4 inches ; wing 2-3 to 2-5 ; tail (varies much) 2-4 to 2-8 ; tarsus 0-95 ; mid 

 toe and claw 0-5 to 0-7 ; bill to gape 0-7 to 0-75. 



Iris light reddish or reddish grey ; eyelid and bill* black, in some with the base very slightly pale ; inside of mouth 

 blade ; legs and feet fleshy or fleshy reddish, claws brownish. 



Above greyish brown, slightly cinereous on the sides of the neck ; wings and tail brown, with rufeseent grey edoin°-s 

 to the quills and coverts, and the tail with whitish tips and subterminal blackish-brown bars, indistinct on the 

 central rectrices ; these latter have obsolete dark cross rays ; lores dark grey, surmounted by a just perceptible 

 streak of whitish ; cheeks brownish, the lower parts blending into the colour of the throat and crossed by narrow 

 dark lines ; beneath fulvescent whitish, with the buff tinge strongest on the chest and sides of the belly close to 

 the flanks, which darken into cinereous grey ; thigh-coverts pale fulvous brownish. 



Young. Iris whitish or greyish yellow ; bill brown ; under mandible fleshy with dusky tip ; legs and feet fleshy 

 reddish, or more delicate in hue than the adult. 



Above rufeseent brown ; loral spot small ; wiugs and tail edged with faded rufous ; the tips of the rectrices, which 

 are subeven, fulvous white, and the dark spots lighter than in the adult ; cheeks washed with brownish ; beneath 

 white, strongly tinged -with rufeseent buff on the chest and sides of belly ; under tail-coverts dusky buff. 



Obs. This species has, like many others in Ceylon, a representative form, in South India, the Jungle Wren-Warbler, 

 D. sylvatica. This bird, which is found iu many parts of the peninsula and ranges up the Nilghiris to an elevation 

 of 4000 feet, is paler on the upper surface and has a plainly developed superciliary streak. I have not had an 

 opportunity of examining this species ; but it is evidently exceedingly close to the present, as is also the next bird. 

 The Dymcecince of India, as Mr. Hume has more than once remarked, want reviewing exceedingly; and I trust 



* The bill in this species frequently dries in the specimen, so as to leave the base of the under mandible white. 



