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Genus CETTIA. 



Sylvia apud La Marmora, Accad. Tor. xxv. p. 254 (1820). 



Calamoherpe apud Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552. 



Curruca apud Boie, torn. cit. p. 553. 



Potamodus apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 123 (1829). 



Phragmites apud Blyth in Rennie's Field Nat. i. p. 439 (1833). 



Salicaria apud Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 114 (1837). 



Philomela apud Swainson, Classif. of B. ii. p. 240 (1837). 



Cettia, Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 11 (1838). 



Calamodyta apud G. R. Gray, Gen. of B. i. p. 172 (1849). 



Bradypterus apud Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 43 (1850). 



Although in some respects the single species which forms the present genus is by no means far 

 from the true Aquatic AVarblers, yet its peculiar eggs and the fact that it has only ten rectrices 

 warrant its being placed in a separate genus. It appears to me to follow on between Lusciniola 

 and Cisticola ; but the various authorities differ in the position they assign to it, and Sundevall 

 places the present genus and Melizophilus in a separate subfamily, which he terms Bradypterince. 



Cetti's Warbler inhabits damp bush-covered localities, usually the margins of streams and 

 ditches, and it is habitually very shy and unobtrusive. Like its allies it feeds on insects of 

 various kinds, which it obtains in the thickets, amongst which it has its home. Its song is clear, 

 loud, and pleasant, but not varied ; and, like the Nightingale, it sings at night as well as in the 

 daytime. Its nest is deep cup-shaped, and is placed on a bush some distance above the ground ; 

 and the eggs are peculiar in being uniform brick-red or dull pinkish-red in colour. 



The range of the present genus is given in the following article on Cetti's Warbler, this 

 species being the sole representative of the genus as well as the type. 



Mr. Seebohm has ascertained that I was wrong in assigning Cetti's Warbler to the genus 

 Bradypterus, and this being the case, the next available generic name is Cettia of Bonaparte ; 

 therefore Cetti's Warbler will stand as Cettia cettii instead of Bradypterus cettii. 



Cetti's Warbler has the bill moderate in size, straight, compressed towards the base, higher 

 than it is broad in the anterior portion ; nostrils basal, oblong ; wings rather short, graduated, 

 first quill 0'63 inch shorter than the second, fourth and fifth the longest; tail much graduated, 

 consisting of ten rectrices only ; tarsi moderately long, covered anteriorly with four plates and 

 three inferior scutellse ; feet rather strong, claws strong and curved. 



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