Genus DEYMCECA. 
Bill stouter and shorter than in the foregoing genera of the subfamily. Nostrils linear ; 
rictal bristles stout but few. Wings with the 4th, 5th, and 6th quills the longest, and the 1st 
more than half the length of the 5th. Tail of 10 feathers, graduated and moderately long. 
Ijegs and feet stout ; tarsi covered with strong and prominent scutse, and longer than the middle 
toe and claw ; claws strongly scaled ; hind toe and claw large. 
Nuchal hairs much developed in some species. 
DEYKECA VALIDA. 
(THE KOBUST WREN-WAEBLER.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Drymoica robusta, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. 812; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 142 
(1849). 
Drymceca valida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1851, xx. p. 180 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 
(1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 262 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 302. 
I)rymoi])US validus, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 182 (1863); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 457 ; 
Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21, et 1875, p. 397. 
Suya robusta, Bonap. Consp. vol. i. p. 281 (1850). 
Similis D. jerdoni, seel robustior, alis caudaque longioribus, et rostro toto nigi-o, robustiore et magis curvato distiugueuda. 
Ad^ilt male and female. Length 6'0 to 6-4 inches ; wing 2-3 to 2-5; tail (varies much) 2-4 to 2-8 ; tarsus 0-95 ; mid 
toe and claw 0‘5 to 0‘7 ; bill to gape 0'7 to 0’75. 
Iris light reddish or reddish grey; eyelid and bill* black, in some with the base very slightly pale ; inside of mouth 
hlacJe ; legs and feet fleshy or fleshy reddish, claws browidsh. 
Above greyish brown, slightly cinereous on the sides of the neck ; wings and tail brown, with rufescent grey edgings 
to the quills and coverts, and the tail with whitish tips and subterminal blackish-brown bars, indistinct on the 
central rectrices ; these latter have obsolete dark cross rays ; lores dark grey, surmounted by a just perceptible 
streak of whitish; cheeks brownish, the lower parts blending into the colour of tho throat and crossed by narrow 
dark lines ; beneath fulvescent whitish, with the buJS tinge strongest on the chest and sides of the belly close to 
the flauks, which darken into cinereous grey ; thigh-coverts pale fulvous brovTOish. 
Young. Iris whitish or greyish yellow ; bill brown ; under mandible fleshy with dusky tip ; legs aud feet fleshy 
reddish, or more delicate in hue than the adult. 
Above rufescent brown ; loral spot small ; whigs and tail edged with faded rufous ; the tips of the rectrices, which 
are subeven, fulvous white, and the dark spots lighter than in the adult ; cheeks washed with brownish ; beneath 
white, strongly tinged with rufescent buff on the chest and sides of belly ; under tail-coverts dusky buff. 
Ohs. This species has, like many others in Ceylon, a representative form in South India, the Jungle Wren-Warbler, 
D. sylvatica. This bird, which is found in many parts of the peninsula and ranges up the IVilghii’is to an elevation 
of 4000 feet, is paler on the upper surface and has a plainly developed superciliary streak. I have not had an 
opportunity of examining this species; but it is evidently exceedingly close to the present, as is also the next bird. 
The Dymceeinm of India, as Mr. Hume has more than once remarked, want reviewing exceedingly ; and I trust 
* The bill in this species frequently dries in the specimen, so as to leave the base of the under mandible white. 
