PASSEEES. 

 Fam. SYLVIID^E. 



Bill moderately slender and straight ; the culmen acute ; the tip notched ; rictal bristles 

 short. Wings pointed ; the 1st quill much reduced. Tail of 12 feathers, shorter than or not 

 exceeding the wing. Tarsus scaled, longer than the middle toe. 



Of small size, with a double moult, and of unspotted young plumage. 



Genus SYLVIA. 



Bill small, rather straight ; the culmen gently curved from the base. Nostrils oval ; gape 

 beset with small bristles. Wings long ; the 3rd, 4th, and 5th quills equal and longest, the 1st 

 not much exceeding the primary-coverts. Tail rounded at the tip. Tarsus rather short, shielded 

 in front with well-developed scales; toes stout and strongly scaled. 



SYLVIA AFFINIS. 



(THE LARGER INDIAN WHITETHROAT.) 



Sylvia affinis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. spec. C (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 



1853, xii. p. 267 ; Layard & Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 57 (1853) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



ii. p. 209 (1863) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 457. 

 Sterparola curruca (Lath.), Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 373 (1874). 

 Sylvia althaea, Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, vol. vii. p. 60. 

 The Allied Grey Warbler, Jerdon. Nella kwm/pa-jitta, Telugu. 



Adult male (Aripu, Dee. 1869). Length (from skin) 5-G inches; wing 2-8 ; tail 2-8; tarsus 07 ; middle toe 05, its 

 claw (straight) 015 ; bill to gape 0-57. 



2nd quill intermediate in length between the 6th and 7th. 



•• Irides pale yellow; bill, base slate, tip dusky; feet dark leaden" {Holdsworth). 



Crown and nape dull bluish ashy, changing into the subdued earthy brown of the hind neck, back, and scapulars ; the 

 upper tail-coverts more ashy than the back ; lesser wing-coverts ashy at the margins of the feathers, the centres 

 being concolorous with the back ; wings brown, the edges of the primaries and secondaries pale fulvous brownish, 

 the tertials more conspicuously margined than the outer secondaries ; tail darker brown than the win°-s, the 

 margins of the feathers albescent, the outer web and terminal portion of the inner web of the outer feather and 

 the tips of the two next dull white ; lores and ear-coverts dark brown, contrasting with the ashy hue above and 

 below the ears on the side of the neck ; lower portion of orbital fringe white ; chin and throat pure white ; chest 

 and under surface whitish, faintly tinged with reddish ashy, mostly on the sides of the chest and the under tail- 

 coverts ; flanks slightly shaded with greyish ; edge of the wing white ; under wing-coverts tinged with reddish 

 ashy. 



Obs. The above is a description of an example procured by Mr. Holdsworth at Aripu, and the only one, I believe, 

 now extant from Ceylon, unless Specimen C of Blyth's Catalogue is still in a state of preservation in the Calcutta 

 Museum. It appears to belong to the larger race lately distinguished by Mr. Hume as S. althcea ; it, however, 

 has the head more ashy than I am led to suppose is the case in S. althcea ; and as I think Mr. Hume will require 

 a larger series before he can safely found his new subspecies, I will keep the Ceylonese bird as S. affinis, the title 



