The Emu. 
85 
England, A. streperus. This Warbler was first noticed in the 
midlands, not being enumerated in the earlier lists of Tasmanian 
birds. It is plentiful in the great reed-beds in the North Esk 
between Launceston and St. Leonards, but is seldom visible, 
and its existence unknown to all who are unacquainted with its 
notes. In the south it is rare. If the northerly range of the 
species is correctly given by Wallace as Lombok, the inference 
is that it must winter in North or North Central Australia, and 
there frequent the great reed-beds which probably exist on 
some of the northern rivers. Its existence there may easily 
have been overlooked by collectors, as it often is in the south, 
owing to its skulking habits. 
Both the Australian Reed-Warblers, though among the 
largest of the genus, are smaller than the two Asiatic species 
and the African and European bird, A. turdoides. The Indian 
Reed- Warbler, A. stentorius, judged by 12 specimens from India 
and Ceylon examined by myself, measures in the wing 3.1 to 
3.55 inches. The European bird, with a more pointed wing 
than the aforementioned, measures 3.7 to 3.9 inches. The East 
Asian species, A. orientalis, measures 3 to 3.5 inches. The Aus- 
tralian Warbler has the wing 2.7 to 3 inches in length (Cat. B. 
Brit. Mus., vol. v.) It is worthy of remark, in connection with the 
singular habits of this genus, that the existence of A. stentorius 
was overlooked in Ceylon until discovered by myself in no less 
a public spot than the reeds in the old ditch of the Dutch Fort 
at Jaffna. Once its note was familiar I found it easily in 
various tanks and swamps in the northern and south-eastern 
parts of the island, where it was breeding and a resident, 
though only recorded as a visitor to the plains of India, from 
which in the ordinary course it should have been a visitor to 
Ceylon ! As illustrative of the habits of this interesting bird, the 
following extract is from my account of it (" Birds of Ceylon," p. 
552) : — " The tank which I have mentioned above as being one 
grown with enormous rushes in the dry season, abounded with 
these Warblers in the. month of June. Shortly afterwards it was 
burnt by herdsmen for feed for their cattle, leaving nothing but 
a few solitary clumps of reeds standing amidst the blackened 
waste. When I visited it, no sign of a Warbler was anywhere 
to be seen. Blue Coots and Water-hens were moping about at 
the edge of the only remaining sheet of water, and a few of 
the handsome Water Pheasants {^Hydrophasianus chirurgus) 
* scudded ' along the Lotus leaves as I approached. None of 
these I wanted, and was about to turn my back upon the wild 
scene, when a flock of Weaver Birds (P/oceus) flew across the 
open and settled on one of the reed clumps, when immediately 
out sallied one of my looked-for Warblers, and chirped defiance 
at the strangers, which was the signal for further notes almost 
in every little oasis of vegetation. On my trying to dislodge 
them from their strongholds, they retreated to the base of the 
