DEYMCECA JEEDONI. 
(JERDON’S WREN-WARBLER.) 
Brymoica jerdoni, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 459 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 142 (1849). 
Brymoica inornata (Sykes), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 328 (1854), in pt. 
Brymoipus jerdoni (Bl.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 180 (1863) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 456 ; 
Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 437 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 21. 
Adult male and female. Length 6-0 inches ; -n-ing 2-1 to 2-3 ; tail 2-45 to 2-6 ; tarsus 0-75 to 0-8o : middle toe and 
claw 0'75 ; bill to gape 0’71 to 0*74. 
Iris pale reddish or yellowish red ; bill, upper mandible dark brown, lower dusky, pale at the base ; inside of mouth 
Jlesli-colour ; legs and feet brownish fleshy, claws blackish. 
Above oKvaceous brown, not so dark as the last species ; the lores brownish grey ; wings darker brown than the back, 
the quills edged pale ; tail slightly paler brown than the wings, with obsolete transverse strim, all but the central 
feathers with a pale tip and narrow subterminal dark bar showing beneath ; face and ear-coverts pale brownish, 
mingled with the albescent hue of the throat ; under surface, from the chin to the under taU-coverts, fulvescent 
whitish, most strongly tinged with buff on the sides of the chest and on the flanks : under wing-coverts and 
inner edge of quills fulvescent; thighs brownish fulvous. 
Young. Iris as in the adult, bill with the under mandible lighter, and the tarsus washed with brownish. 
An individual shot in .Tune, and seemingly about two months old, has the upper surface of a more earthy hue than 
the adult ; the quills are edged with fulvous, and the tertials have a broad but indistinct pale cross band formed 
by the margins of the centre of the feathers being fulvous ; tips of the tail-feathers fulvous, and the subterminal 
dark spot indistinct. 
Ohs. This species is very close to the last. It may, however, be distinguished from D. valida by its having a straigkter, 
slenderer, and paler bill, and a flesh-coloured mouth, by the wing being shorter, and the tarsus not so stout and 
studded with less prominent scutse. As a rule, the brown of the upper surface is paler, and the lores are lighter, 
although much stress cannot be laid on this last character, as the lores are variable in the last species, being, in 
some specimens, nearly as pale as in the present bird. Neither can any dependence be placed on the tint of the 
under sui’faee, for it is, in many specimens of D. valida, quite as much tinged with buff as in this species. 
Specimens of this Warbler were sent by Jerdon from Southern India to Blyth, who described it under its present title, 
but afterwards absorbed it into D. longicaudata. Jerdon, however, sent examples to the British Museum, and 
udth these Mr. Iloldsworth compared his Ceylonese skins and found them to agree. But little is known of this 
species in Southern India — that is, as far as we can judge from the experience of late observers, not one of whom 
mentions it among the collections which have from time to time been described in ‘ Stray Feathers.’ I imagine, 
therefore, that its distribution must be very local or that it must be a rare species. 
Distribution. — Jerdon’s Wren-Warbler is widely diffused throughout the low country, but is nowhere 
very common. It occurs, but only sparingly, according to my experience, in the hill-country up to about 
3500 or 4000 feet, at which elevation I have met with it in the Knuckles district. Mr. Iloldsworth procured 
his specimens near Colombo, and I found it commoner there than anywhere else. It frequents the cinnamon- 
gardens, chiefly affecting those low-lying spots which are overgrown with fern and bracken. I have procured 
it in the Eastern Province, also in clearings in the Kukkul Korale, and I have no doubt that some of the 
many birds of this genus which I have seen in the south-eastern region and the Northern Province may 
have belonged to the pircsent species. It is not possible to distinguish it from the last bird when at large, and 
it may not, therefore, be so sparsely diffused through the island as I suppose ; at the same time, however, 
I may mention that the majority of specimens of these large Wren-Warblers which fell to my gun in various 
parts of Ceylon belonged to the last-named, D. valida. 
Concerning its distribution in South India I am unable to give particulars. I conclude it occurs in 
suitable localities in the low country of Madras, and probably on the slopes of such ranges as the Palanis. 
