Genus DRYMCECA. 
Sylvia apud Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. p. 34 (1823). 
Malurus apud Cretzschmar, in Riipp. Atlas, Vogel, p. 3 (1826). 
Drymoeca, Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 168 (1827). 
Cysticola apud Lesson, Traité d’Orn. p. 415 (1831). 
Prinia apud Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xiii. p. 376 (1844). 
Drymoica apud Riippell, Syst. Uebers. p. 56 (1845). 
Suya apud Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 281 (1850). 
Burnesia apud Jerdon, B. of India, ii. p. 185 (1863). 
Drymeca apud Blanford, Geol. & Zool. of Abyss. p. 373 (1870). 
THE present genus, which is closely allied to Cisticola, is found in the extreme south-eastern 
portion of the Western Palearctic Region, but is more essentially an Ethiopian and Indian 
genus, though the single species which is found within our limits is resident. In habits it 
assimilates tolerably closely to Cisticola; and, like those birds, it is usually found in well- 
watered or damp localities. It is a tolerably good songster; but its song, though sweet, is 
somewhat short. Its flight is weak and uncertain; and it seldom traverses any considerable 
distance without resting. Its food consists chiefly of insects of various kinds, which it obtains 
either amongst the bushes or low trees or on the ground; and its nest, unlike that of the 
Cisticole, is domed, having an entrance in the side, and is deep, almost purse-shaped, and large 
for the size of the bird. It is built suspended above the ground in a bunch of grass; and the 
eggs are speckled with deep red on a pale greenish ground. ‘The type of the present genus is 
Drymeca maculosa (Bodd.), an African species not found in the Western Palearctic Region ; so 
I give the characters of the single species which occurs here, and which is congeneric with it 
(Drymeca gracilis), as follows, viz.:—Bill somewhat slender, rather broad at the base, moderately 
long, decurved towards the tip; nostrils basal, oval; gape furnished with tolerably long bristles ; 
wings short, broad; first quill well developed, half the length of the second, which is about equal 
to the ninth, third and fourth nearly equal, the latter being the longest; tail very long, much 
graduated, consisting of ten rectrices; tarsi long, covered in front with four plates and three 
inferior scutelle; feet moderate, claws rather short, curved. 
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