118 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
gape '55 ; in winter^ length about 4*8 inches, tail 2. The female is a little 
smaller than the male. 
An examination of the large series of specimens in the British Museum 
carried out by Mr. Sharpe^ Mr. Davison and myself, makes it clear that 
all the above-quoted names refer to one and the same species. We 
have not been able to examine C. erythrocephala, but there can be 
little doubt that it is the same bird. In this species not only are 
the sexes different in coloration^ but the plumage is also different in 
summer and winter^ and the length of the tail also varies according to 
season. 
I met with these birds in Burmah only a short time before I left the 
country, and all the males I procured were in breeding-plumage. One 
of them^ however, had a black feather on the head, and this at once 
gave me the key to the changes of plumage. Mr. Hume, I find, had 
already suspected that C. tytleri and C. melanocephala were dificrent sexes 
of the same bird. 
The Golden-headed Grass-Warbler occurs plentifully in the plain lying 
near the Pegu Canal, and also along the embankment running from 
Myitkyo to the Tonghoo road. It is not universally distributed over this 
plain, but occurs in a few places only. 
It is found in the Indo-Burmese countries. Eastern Bengal and Western 
India. It extends into China, and has been found in the island of For- 
mosa. Under various names it is recorded from numerous islands in the 
Malay archipelago, and it extends over Australia. 
This Warbler has the same habits as the last species, rising into the air 
with a loud note, which, however, is different from that of C. cisticola, 
being more musical. 
The breeding-season commences in May, on the 28th of which month I 
found two nests — beautiful little purses made of the softest and whitest 
vegetable fibres; they were placed in clumps of short grass on the edge 
of a paddy-field about one foot from the ground. One nest contained four 
eggs, and the other one only two ; they are very similar in coloration to 
those of the preceding species. 
