ACROCEPHALUS DUMETORUM. 



(BLYTH'S REED-WARBLER.) 



Acrocejphalus dumetorum, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. 815 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



App. p. 326 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 



1853, xii. p. 263 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 332 (1854); Jerdon, B. 



of Ind. ii. p. 155 (1863) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 455; Adam, Str. Feath. 1873, 



p. 381; Brooks, ibid. 1875, p. 241; Anderson, t.c. p. 351; Butler, t. c. p., 479; 



Dresser (Severtzoff's Fauna of Turkestan), Ibis, 1876, p. 84. 

 Calamodyta dumetorum (Bl.), Hume, Nests & Eggs, ii. p. 327 (1874) ; Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, 



p. 414. 

 The Lesser Beed- Warbler, J erdon ; The Bush-Warbler of some. Tikra, Bengal. ; Podena, 



Hind. ; Tik-tikki, Mussulmen. 



Adult male and female. Length 5-4 to 5-6 inches ; wing 2-35 to 2-55 ; tail 2-1 ; tarsus 0-8 to 0-9 ; middle toe and daw 



0-6 to 0-68 ; bill to gape 0-7 to 0'72 ; 2nd quill equal to the 6th. 

 Iris clear olive ; bill dusky brown or dark brown above, lower mandible light fleshy, tip slightly dusky ; legs and feet 



plumbeous or bluish grey, claws dusky bluish. 

 Above uniform brownish olive, paling slightly towards the upper tail-coverts ; in some specimens the upper surface is 



of a darker hue than in others and the forehead deeper in colour ; wings and tail hair-brown, edged with the hue 



of the back ; orbital fringe fulvous-grey ; lores dusky, surmounted by a pale supercilium ; cheeks mottled brownish ; 



beneath white, more or less shaded with pale brownish on the sides of the chest and flanks, this colour blending 



into the white with a fulvous tinge ; the hue of the sides of the neck likewise blends softly into the white of the 



throat. 



Young. Some specimens which are obtainable in Ceylon during the season of their visit have the tips of the secon- 

 daries and tertials pale ; these are probably immature birds. 



Obs. Ceylonese specimens of this bird were stated to possess a greenish shade ; they, however, migrate to us from the 

 peninsula of India, and it is difficult to see how they could differ from their fellows on the mainland. I find that 

 the hue of the upper surface varies in specimens from India and elsewhere ; and in comparing six from Ceylon with 

 the same number from India and Siberia, I observe that the former as a whole are not more olivaceous on the back 

 than the latter. The wing in nine examples varies from 2-3 to 2-5 inches, one specimen from Etawah alone exceeding 

 2-4 ; A. dumetorum is the Indian representative of the Reed- Warbler of Europe (A. streperus), which is a summer 

 visitor to England. It is closely allied to this latter, differing from it in the proportion of the longer primaries to 

 one another, which give it a more rouuded wing ; likewise in its deeper bill, the more olivaceous tint of the upper 

 surface, and its somewhat smaller size. Various examples of A. streperus which I have examined vary in the 

 wiug from 2-45 to 2-5 inches in males, and from 2-4 to 2-5 in females. The 2nd quill or 1st long primary is equal 

 to the 4th. 



The following comparison of the differentiating characters of these two Warblers will show at a glance in what respect 

 they differ : — 



A. streperus. Larger, browner on the lower back; bill slender ; 2nd quill (1st long primary) equal or slightly shorter 

 than the 4th. 



A. dumetorum. Smaller, back and rump more olivaceous than in A. streperus, bill stouter ; 2nd quill equal to the 6th. 



The Acrocephalus montanus of Jerdon, B. of Ind. p. 155, and which he compares with A. dumetorum, is a small Babbler 

 (Aleippe), about the size of A. nigrifrons. There is, at least, a specimen of it, collected by Mr. Wallace, in the 

 British Museum, and provisionally labelled A. montanus. It is olivaceous brown above and pale beneath, tinged 

 with fulvous. 



Distribution.— The Lesser Reed- Warbler (or Bush-Warbler, as it would be more appropriately called, as 



4a 



