4 
vogelberg, by Lieutenant H. Trevelyan at King William’s Town, and by Mr. Atmore at Eland’s 
post. Mr. Ayres and Mr. T. E. Buckley found it common throughout Natal and in the 
Transvaal. 
To the eastward the Fantail Warbler is found as far as China and Japan. Severtzoff did 
not meet with it in Turkestan; nor does Mr. Blanford record it from Persia; but it is, Dr. Jerdon 
states, distributed throughout India, where it is found in long grass, corn-, and rice-fields. Mr. 
Holdsworth records it as common in Ceylon, and puts as a synonym Cisticola homalura, Blyth : 
and in this he is probably correct; for Mr. Hume states (Stray Feathers, 1. p. 439) that he has 
Indian specimens which would answer very well to Blyth’s diagnosis. Mr. Hume records it 
from the Nicobars, and writes (Stray Feathers, il. p. 235), “I have compared the Nicobar bird 
with others from all parts of India, from Ceylon on the south to Goorgaon on the north, and 
from Sindh on the west to Decca and Cachar on the east; and they appear to me to be perfectly 
identical. Davison says, ‘Comparatively common at the Nicobars in the large tracts of grass that 
occur on many of these islands, it is also very abundant, perhaps more so than in any other 
locality, all about the cleared portion of the settlement of Camorta, frequenting the patches of 
guinea-grass and low scrub that cover the hill-sides where forest has been felled and burned.” 
Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub say that there is a specimen in the Bremen Museum from Java. 
According to Mr. Swinhoe it is found commonly throughout China, Hainan, and Formosa; and 
he also identifies the Japanese bird with the present species. I have not been able to compare 
a specimen from Japan; but it appears to me from the plate and description in the ‘ Fauna 
Japonica’ that Mr. Swinhoe is correct in his identification. 
Owing to the want of a sufficient series of specimens, I have found it difficult to determine 
the validity of the various closely allied species from Asia. I am indebted to the Marquis of 
Tweeddale for his entire series of specimens from India &c., and to Mr. Swinhoe for his Chinese 
examples, and have examined the collection in the British Museum; and the following remarks, 
being the result of what I have been able to ascertain by an examination of these specimens, may 
perhaps be of interest to my readers :— 
Cisticola munipurensis, from the Naga hills, is, judging from a specimen in Lord Tweeddale’s 
collection, not specifically separable from Cisticola cursitans. 
Cisticola melanocephala, Anderson (P. Z. 8. 1871, p. 212), from Yunnan, differs from C. cur- 
sitans in being darker on the upper parts and in having the crown blackish brown. There is a 
specimen in Lord Tweeddale’s collection, from the Khasi hills, which measures—culmen 0°4, 
wing 1°82, tail 1:95, tarsus 0-7. 
Cisticola ruficollis, Walden (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. vii. p. 241, 1871). I have 
not had an opportunity of examining this species, which is said to occur throughout all Assam ; 
but Lord Tweeddale says that it is very distinct, and in its style of coloration greatly resembles 
Graminicola bengalensis, Jerd. 
Cisticola volitans, Swinh. (Journ. N. China B. As. Soc. May 1859), from North Formosa, differs 
from C. cursitans in being paler and in having the crown light creamy isabelline, and the rump 
darker isabelline, both being unspotted. The type (in Mr. Swinhoe’s collection) measures— 
culmen 0°42, wing 1°7, tail 1:1, tarsus 0:77. 
Cisticola grayti, Walden (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. ix. p. 400, 1872), from Celebes, 
