522 
Birds of Celebes: Sylviidae. 
d4\ Seebohm 11; Salvadori d7; W. Blasius 17; Vorclermaii d 8; Tacza- 
iiowski e 1. 
Adult. Above dark yellowisli broccoli-brown, more cinnamon on rmnp and wing-coverts; 
quills and tail darker brown, edged with the colour of the rump, tipped with 
whitish; lores and superciliary stripe buff-white; under-parts buff-white, slightly 
streaked with brown on the chest, and becoming buff on the sides, flanks and under 
wing-coverts, and browner on thighs (Minahassa, C 3528). 
Iris pale wood-brown; legs lead-grey; bill horn-brown; interior of gape orange 
(Everett 7). 
Sex. The sexes are similar in plumage. 
Young. The young in first plumage differ from the adults in hawng the upper parts of a 
more russet tint, the under-parts more strongly washed with isabelline; no trace of 
dark streaks on the fore-neck'); quills and tail edged with russet. Bill yellow-brownish, 
edged with yellow on both mandibles; feet flesh-colour (Taczanowski s 1).^ 
Measurements (2). Wing 87, 92; tail 80, 82; bill from nostril 12, 14; tarsus 29, 31 mm. 
Eggs. Usually 5, a little smaller than those of A. turdoides; slightly glossy; often perfectly 
elliptical; ground-colour dehcate blue or pale duty greenish, with underlying spots of 
ashy grey or olivaceous grey, and superjacent ones of olive-brownish mingled with 
others nearly black — the spots being irregular in shape and size, but usually evenly 
distributed over the egg (Argona River, B. Siberia — Taez. el). 
Nest. Not differing from that of the European G-reat Reed -warbler in construction, in 
materials and dimensions (Godlewski e 1). 
Distribution. Mongolia (Prjevalsky d 5, d 9); E. Siberia — Ussuriland, S. Dauria and Amur- 
land iDybowski and Godlewski e 4, c 5, e 1, Prjevalsky d 5), Askold Id. (Dbrries 
d 6, d 10); Japan (Blakiston, etc. c 2, 27); China (Swinhoe, etc. c 3, d 4, 18, 30, 31); 
Pegu (Oates 4, 14, 23); Andamans (Wimberley 11, 14, 23); Tenasseruu (Davison 
14, 23); Malay Peninsida — Salanga Id. (J. Weber 75); Sumatra (Hartert 22, 
Leyden Mus. d 7); Java (Vorderman d 8, v. Schierbr. in Dresd. Mus.); Lombok 
(Wallace 11, d 7); Borneo (Everett, etc. 6, 7, 21, 25); Pliilippines — Palawan (Platen 
19, 20, 28), Luzon (Meyer 5, AVhitehead .95), Cebu (Meyer 5, Steere 26), Min- 
danao (Steere 26), Mindoro (B. & AV. 34); Celebes — North (Bruijn d 3^'^, Riedel 
77, Faber in Dresd. Mus., P.&F. Sarasin 36), — South: Tempe (Weber 33); ?Ternate 
(Rosenberg d 7); Batchian and Morty (Wallace d 7). 
This species, commonly spoken of as the Eastern representative of the 
Great lleetl-warbler, A. turdoides, differs from the European bird by its legs 
and feet being lead-colour, instead of pale horn, by its somewhat smaller size 
and proportionally larger bill; and according to Prof. W. Blasius the diminutive 
first quill is less reduced. In Pegu the Indian Great Reed-warbler, Acrocephalus 
stentorms (Hemp. & Ehr.), occurs with the present species in winter, and Oates 
considers that they can only be discriminated when the w’ings are fully grown 
and perfect: in stentorms the second quill is equal to or shorter than the fifth, 
in orientalis it is usually equal to the fourth and hardly shorter than the third, 
which is longest. 
A. orientalis is known to ornithologists in Eastern Asia as a migrant, breed- 
ing in East Siberia, China and Japan, and departing south for the winter. 
<) Seebohm (ll) holds this to he a character of the first plumage. 
