92 



The present species, which is a large-sized eastern form of Hypolais caligata, inhabits, during 

 the breeding-season, Transcaspia, Turkestan, South-eastern Mongolia, South-western Persia, and 

 Kashmir, spending the winter in India. 



According to Mr. Zarudny (Rech. Zool. Transcasp. p. 73) " its distribution in Transcaspia is 

 widely extended ; it is very common in the basin of the Murghab and Tedgend, in the oasis of 

 Atek and the'neighbouring mountains below the juniper zone. In summer it is to be seen with 

 its young amongst the sand-hills a few versts distant from a valley watered by a small river. Its 

 favourite haunts in summer are dry places near water, covered in some parts with tamarisk or 

 other bushes, and in others with alchargis ; it is also often met with in dried-up marshes 

 sparingly covered with bushes and scattered small reeds, and is, as a rule, more numerous in the 

 plains than in the mountains. 



" In the oasis of Merv it has penetrated along the Alikhanow canal to the eastern sand- 

 districts, almost as far as the salt-plains of Djondjoncli, where in the spring the floods submerge 

 a large number of the nests of this bird. On the 16th of June I saw, near the lake Ayna-Gueul, 

 young birds which were ready to leave the nest. The bird is so common in this country, and is 

 so careless in hiding its nest, that between the end of April and the beginning of June I found 

 at least sixty." 



According to Messrs. Radde and Walter (Vog. Transcasp. p. 51) it is extremely common in 

 the tamarisk- thickets along the water-courses. The first migrants arrived in 1886 at Molla-kary 

 on the 23rd April (new style), and from the 16th to the 28th of April they increased largely in 

 numbers. On the Murghab the first migrants appeared in 1S87 on the 16th of April, and the 

 largest number was observed passing on the 20th of April. 



Mr. W. T. Blanford obtained examples at Karman, Persia, in May, at Shiraz in June, and 

 at Ispahan in July, and he also met with it in Baluchistan in March and April. In Turkestan, 

 according to Severtzoff, it is common on the Syr-Darja ; and Prjevalsky met with it in 1877 on 

 the return journey from Lob-nor in the Tian-shan, and obtained specimens in the Chaidu-gol 

 valley on the Juldus and the Hi, in which last-named locality numbers were nesting. Early in 

 September one was shot on the Zairam-nor. 



Mr. Oates writes (Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 392) that the distribution of this Warbler 

 extends " throughout the whole peninsula of India down to the Nilgiris in the south, and 

 to the longitude of Dinapore and Lohardugga in the east. I have examined a large series of 

 birds from almost every portion of this area. It is in general a winter visitor, but Doig found a 

 large colony breeding from March to July on the Eastern Nara, Sind. It breeds in Quetta and 

 westwards to Europe ; also in Turkestan ; and Seebohm states that it breeds in Kashmir. 

 India appears to be its main winter-quarters." 



In habits the present species closely resembles Hypolais caligata, but, according to 

 Mr. Zarudny, its note differs from the note of that species. Its song, he adds, is feeble but very 

 agreeable ; when the male sings it erects the feathers of its crown and perches on the most 

 elevated bare branch of a bush, and is therefore easy to shoot ; but in the summer it is not so 

 easy to procure it, as it is then more retiring in its habits. 



The breeding-range of Sykes's Warbler extends, it appears, from Transcaspia eastward to 

 the Tian-shan range, and I do not find any confirmation of the statement made by Mr. Seebohm 



