Birds of Celebes: Sylviidae. 
523 
Prjevalsky and Godlewski say it arrives in May in Amurland, where its song 
can be heard till the end of summer; it breeds in June and July and disappears 
in September. Similarly in the neighbourhood of Pekin it arrives in great 
numbers about May, nests among the reeds in the marshes and leaves in Sep- 
tember (David d4). Blakiston and Pryer (c 6) record its arrival at Tokio, 
Japan, at the end of April; Seebohm records (32) a specimen captured at 
Sea 40 miles north of one of the Loochoo Islands on May 24*’*. In Central 
China, the lower Yangtse Basin, Mr. Styan (30) remarks that “thousands arrive 
towards the end of April to breed in the reed-beds of the Yangtse, and remain 
till the end of October or middle of November”. Further south in China Mr. 
De liU Touche (31) found it very abundant in summer. Its chief winter- 
quarters seem to be Burmah and Borneo, and much may ultimately be learnt 
of its winter movements in the less-known Siamese Peninsula. Mr. E. W. Oates 
(4) writes that in Pegu “it arrives in gTeat numbers about the 1 b*** November 
and stays in undiminished quantities till the 3P‘ May at the least. On its first 
arrival it affects bamboo bushes, thick clumps of grass, and patches of weeds; 
but as the season progresses, and the Peepul trees come out into leaf, its 
haunts become chiefly arboreal” — ■ a singular departure from the ordinary habits 
of a lieed-warbler, as Mr. Oates rightly points out. In the East India Islands, 
with the exception of Borneo where a good number of specimens have been 
obtained during the northern winter, few examples have as yet been found, 
perhaps because it is really rare here and must be regarded as a straggler, or 
perhaps also because its plain plumage and skulking habits lead to its being 
disregarded or overlooked by collectors. Only five of the Philippines have so 
far furnished specimens, Meyer got it in Luzon in February, in Cebu in March, 
Whitehead in Luzon in November, Steere in Cebu in January and in Mindanao 
in October, while a specimen of Platen’s from Palawan in the Dresden Museum 
is dated December*). In Java Dr. A'orderman (d 8) writes that he has only 
received a couple of specimens, killed in the rainy season (Oct. Apidl). 
From Celebes itself the following only have been recorded: one or more 
in the Tweeddale Collection (2) from Manado, one in the Brunswick {1^ ) and 
one in the St. Petersburg Museum (H)^ one killed by Prof. W^eber at Lempe 
(33), two in the Dresden Museum, one sent by Bruijn’s hunters from Manado 
to Count Salvadori with the date July (d3^^^), 3 obtained by the Sarasins 
at Tondano in November, 1894, and one at lomohon, 15 May, 1894. Although 
the date July may be correct, as that of an individual left behind in the general 
migration, the facts before us render it pretty certain that A. orientalis is only 
a winter visitant to Celebes and the neighbouring islands. 
Its other habits are said to correspond with those of the Great Reed-warbler 
of Europe (Prejevalsky d 5, Godlewski el). 
1) W. Blasius has spoken of this collection as having been formed in summer (Omis 1888, 302)! 
66 * 
