DRYMOECA JEBDONI. 



(JERDON'S WREN- WARBLER.) 



Drymoica jerdoni, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 459 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 142 (1849). 

 Drymoica inornata (Sykes), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 328 (1854), in pt. 

 Drymoipus jerdoni (BL), Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 180 (1863) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 456 ; 

 Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 437 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21. 



Adult male and female. Length 6-0 inches ; wing 2-1 to 2-3 ; tail 2-45 to 2-6 ; tarsus 0-75 to 0-85 : middle toe and 

 claw - 75 ; bill to gape 071 to 0-74. 



Iris pale reddish or yellowish red ; bill, upper mandible dark brown, lower dusky, pale at the base ; inside of mouth 

 flesh-colour ; legs and feet brownish fleshy, claws blackish. 



Above olivaceous brown, not so dark as the last species ; the lores brownish grey ; wings darker brown than the back, 

 the quills edged pale ; tail slightly paler brown than the wings, with obsolete transverse stria, all but the central 

 feathers with a pale tip and narrow subterminal dark bar showing beneath ; face and ear-coverts pale brownish, 

 mingled with the albescent hue of the throat ; under surface, from the chin to the under tail-coverts, fulvescent 

 whitish, most strongly tinged with buff on the sides of the chest and on the flanks ; under wing-coverts and 

 inner edge of quills fulvescent; thighs brownish fulvous. 



Young. Iris as in the adult, bill with the under mandible lighter, and the tarsus washed with brownish. 



An individual shot in June, and seemingly about two months old, has the upper surface of a more earthy hue than 

 the adult ; the quills are edged with fulvous, and the tertials have a broad but indistinct pale cross band formed 

 by the margins of the centre of the feathers being fulvous : tips of the tail-feathers fulvous, and the subterminal 

 dark spot indistinct. 



Obs. This species is very close to the last. It may, however, be distinguished from D. valida by its having a straighter, 

 slenderer, and paler bill, and a flesh-coloured mouth, by the wing being shorter, and the tarsus not so stout and 

 studded with less prominent scuta?. As a rule, the brown of the upper surface is paler, and the lores are lighter, 

 although much stress cannot be laid on this last character, as the lores are variable in the last species, being, in 

 some specimens, nearly as pale as in the present bird. Neither can any dependence be placed on the tint of the 

 under surface, for it is, in many specimens of D. valida, quite as much tinged with buff as in this species. 



Specimens of this Warbler were sent by Jerdon from Southern India to Blyth, who described it under its present title, 

 but afterwards absorbed it into D. longicaudata. Jerdon, however, sent examples to the British Museum, and 

 with these Mr. Holdsworth compared his Ceylonese skins and found them to agree. But little is known of this 

 species in Southern India — that is, as far as we can judge from the experience of late observers, not one of whom 

 mentions it among the collections which have from time to time been described in ' Stray Feathers." I imagine, 

 therefore, that its distribution must be very local or that it must be a rare species. 



Distribution. — Jerdon's Wren-Warbler is widely diffused throughout the low country, but is nowhere 

 very common. It occurs, but only sparingly, according to my experience, in the hill-country up to about 

 3500 or 4000 feet, at which elevation I have met with it in the Knuckles district. Mr. Holdsworth procured 

 his specimens near Colombo, and I found it commoner there than anywhere else. It frequents the cinnamon- 

 gardens, chiefly affecting those low-lying spots which are overgrown with fern and bracken. I have procured 

 it in the Eastern Province, also in clearings in the Kukkul Korale, and I have no doubt that some of tin- 

 many birds of this genus which I have seen in the south-eastern region and the Northern Proviuce may 

 have belonged to the present species. It is not possible to distinguish it from the last bird when at large, and 

 it may not, therefore, be so sparsely diffused through the island as I suppose ; at the same time, however, 

 I may mention that the majority of specimens of these large Wren-Warblers which fell to my gun in various 

 parts of Ceylon belonged to the last-named, D. valida. 



Concerning its distribution in South India I am unable to give particulars. I conclude it occurs in 

 suitable localities in tbe low country of Madras, and probably on the slopes of such ranges as the Palanis. 



