CISTICOLA CTJKSITANS. 533 



the up-country birds cited proving, however, an exception : in breeding-plumage the head is somewhat more 

 uniform than in winter ; but there is in this sex always an absence of that striation which is characteristic of 

 the other ; some birds at the autumn moult retain the dark head more than others. 



Female. G-alle (June). Edges of the feathers of the head dusky buff, and those of the back conspicuously wide. 



Colombo (September : two examples). Head and upper surface the same as in the above. 



Horton Plains (January). Head striated, edgings of back-feathers very dusky ; rufous of the lower back the same ; 



flanks dark ; spot in front of the eye not so dark as in the male. At all seasons the head of the female is striated, 



owing to the light edgings of the feathers. 

 The length of the lateral tail-feathers, and also of the adjacent pair, varies. Specimens from the eastern province are 



more rufous in their markings than those from the Colombo district. 



Young. Iris greyish olive ; bill dark horn, under mandible yellowish fleshy ; legs and feet fleshy reddish. 



In first plumage (July) a male in my collection has the feathers of the head, hind neck, back, and wing-coverts very 

 broadly margined with fulvous, the quills edged conspicuously with the same ; the centres of the feathers are very 

 black ; fore neck and chest tinged with buff, and the flanks strongly coloured with fulvous, as in the adult. 



Obs. Blyth described (he. cit.) a second species of Cisticola from Ceylon, under the title of omalura, alleging that it 

 differed from C. cursitans in having " a shorter bill, the whole upper parts much darker, and the tail subeven, 

 except that its outermost feathers are £ inch shorter than the next. The prevailing hue of the upper parts is 

 dusky black, with much narrower rufescent margins to the feathers than in C. cursitans, the rump, however, 

 being unmixed rufescent as in that species, and the neck much tinged with the same." This is simply the plumage 

 of a dark specimen from up-country, in which district Kelaart affirms that he found this supposed species, although 

 Layard discovered it first of all at Galle, and afterwards met with it at Pt. Pedro. Numbers of examples may 

 be met with corresponding to Blyth's C. omalura; but it is impossible to separate them from C. cursitans, which is 

 as variable in Ceylon as it is throughout the vast range of territory in which it is elsewhere found. Males of the 

 omalura type have the inside of the mouth black aud the forehead uniform, as in typical cursitans ; and the females 

 of both have the inside of the mouth fleshy and the head striated, and there is no difference in size, which, more 

 than any thing, shows the identity of the two supposed species. Any one examining a large series of this inter- 

 esting little bird from India, Europe, and Africa must speedily come to the conclusion that it would be very 

 unsafe to take slight differences in plumage into consideration, so variable is it in this respect. The relative 



upper tail-coverts ; primaries and secondaries plain brown, the feathers margined with rufous-brown ; tail ruddy 

 brown, obsoletely and narrowly barred with brown ; the ground-colour of the two outer pairs of rectrices dark 

 brown towards the tips, which are pale ; lores, which are brown, surmounted by a whitish streak ; ear-covert 

 feathers brown at the tips and whitish at the base ; chin, throat, and down the centre of the breast dull white, 

 the sides of the fore neck and the flanks brownish fulvous ; under tail-coverts fulvescent brownish, tipped whitish ; 

 under wing whitish. 



06s. "While examining some drawers of skins in the British Museum, I came on this example of a Timab'ne bird, 

 labelled " Ceylon, ex Cuming." It appears to have been entirely overlooked during a period of more than twenty 

 years ; for no bird corresponding to it has ever been noticed as being in the national collection from Ceylon. 

 My friend Mr. Sharpe informs me that there is no doubt about the locality, and therefore the subject of this 

 notice must be added to the already long list of Ceylonese birds. Whether the specimen in question is correctly 

 identified as being the Sehcenicola platyura of Jerdon it is impossible to say, for he only procured one example, and 

 that was lost, not, however, until after Blyth had seen it, and applied to it the generic appellation of Sclicenicola. 

 I have carefully compared the skin in the British Museum with the description given by Jerdon of the generic 

 characters and "plumage of his bird, and it corresponds in both respects so closely, that I feel almost sure that it is 

 the same species. Jerdon's generic characters are:— "Bill moderate, rather deep, much compressed, slightly 



curved on the culmen ; a few strong rictal bristles Wings moderate, slightly rounded, 4th quill longest, 



3rd equal to the 5th ; tail moderate, very broad, soft," &c. His description is extremely curt, and runs as follows :— 

 " Above dark olive-brown ; the feathers of the tail obsoletely barred ; beneath ochreous yellowish, bill horny 

 yellow; irides yellowish brown. Length 5-25 inches ; wing 2| ; tail 2-5 ; bill at front 0-4 ; tarsus 0-9." 



It would appear that the Broad-tailed Reed-bird has recently again been procured in Travancore, as in the last number 



