532 CISTICOLA CURSITANS. 



Female. Length 3-9 to 4-3 inches ; wing 1/9 to 2-05. 



Iris varying from greyish yellow to olive-grey or pale olive ; bill fleshy, the culmen varying from dusky to blackish 



brown, tip of lower mandible dusky ; inside of mouth in the male Had-, in the female fleshy ; legs and feet fleshy ; 



joints of toes dusky. 



Male (Hambantota, 30th June). Centres of the hind neck, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts deep sepia-brown, paling 

 gradually off at the margins into brownish rufescent and rufescent greyish, the wing-coverts and scapular feathers 

 having the lightest edgings ; forehead and sides of the crown uniform sepia-brown, but the feathers of the centre 

 of the occiput and of the nape and hind neck indistinctly edged with rufous-grey ; tertials and the innermost 

 I -at hers of the greater coverts brownish black, broadly edged with fulvous greyish; primaries and secondaries 

 dark brown, edged with greyish ; rump brownish rufous ; upper tail-coverts dark brown at the centres of the 

 feathers; central tail-feathers and a subterminal band on all the rest black-brown, these latter deeply tipped with 

 whitish, which, together with the black bar, is clearer and more conspicuous beneath ; above the bar a rufous 

 patch, chiefly confined to the inner webs of the feathers. 



Lores and supercilium whitish, a small dark spot just in front of the eye; face and ear-coverts rufescent, the latter 

 with pale shafts ; throat and under surface white, changing on the flanks and under tail-coverts into rufescent ; 

 wing-lining tinged with the same : thighs pale rufous. 



Colombo (27th January and 8th February). These two examples have the feathers of the centre of the crown very 

 faintly margined with fawn-colour, the head being scarcely less uniform than in the above ; the feathers of the back 

 are darker, as also the wings ; rump deeper rufous. 



(lalle (12th April). Head almost uniform brown ; margins of the feathers just perceptibly paler than the rest of 

 the web. 



( 'iloinbo (26th October). Feathers of the crown conspicuously margined with pale fawn, the forehead uniform, and 

 the brown tint of the head very dark. 



Horton Plains and Kandapolla (January). These birds are darker above than low-country ones ; the margins of the 

 feathers are more greyish than rufescent, the rump rufous-brown, and the tail-feathers with the tips not so white 

 as in the above detailed examples ; the spot in front of the eye is darker, and the bill is also blackish ; the under 

 surface is not so white, but is pervaded with greyish on the chest, and the flanks are brownish rufous ; the head 

 is more plainly striated than in any lowland birds. 



It will be seen from the above that there is but little difference in Ceylon specimens in summer and in winter plumage, 



Genus SCHCEXICOLA*(?). 



Bill straight, the culmen curved, compressed, rather deep at the base; the tip slightly notched. Nostrils oval and 

 placed well forward ; t w <> or three stout rictal bristles, one of which is much longer and stouter than the others. Wings 

 rounded, the 1st quill more than half the length of the longest, which is the 3rd; the 2nd subequal to the 5th. Tail long, 

 of In feathers, the middle pair very broad, the laterals graduated. Tarsus long, covered with broad transverse scutas ; 

 middle toe long, the lateral ones subequal and reaching to the last joint of the middle one : claws very straight. 



SCHCENLCOLA PLATYUEA(?). 



(the broad-tailed reed-bird.) 



Timalia platyura, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844, xiii. no. 96 6»s. 

 Schoenicola platyura, Jerdon, B. of Ind, ii. p. 73 (1803) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, p. 37. 



Adult (Ceylon : ex Cuming). Length from skin, which is rather stretched, inches ; wing 2-6 ; tail 2-7 ; tarsus 0-9 ; 



middle toe - 7 ; bill to gape 0-01. Lateral tail-feathers 1-3 shorter thau the central pair, which are 0-15 longer 



than the adjacent ones ; under tail-coverts 0*3 shorter than the outermost pair. 

 Head, hind neck, bark, scapulars, and rump ruddy brown, darkest on the head, and inclining to rufous-brown on the 



These are the characters of a bird presumed to belong to this genus, which is now in the British Museum. 



