532 
CISTICOLA CUESITANS. 
Female. Length 3'9 to 4'3 inches ; wing 1‘9 to 2-05. 
Iris varying from greyish yellow to olive-grey or pale olive ; bill fleshy, the culmen varying from dusky to blackish 
brown, tip of lower mandible dusky ; inside of mouth in the male l>lac/c, in the female fleshy ; legs and feet fleshy ; 
joints of toes dusky. 
Male (Hambantota, 30th June). Centres of the hind neck, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts deep sepia-brown, paling 
gradually off at the margins into brownish rufescont and rufescent greyish, the mug-coverts and scapular feathers 
having the lightest edgings ; forehead and sides of the crown uniform sepia-brown, but the feathers of the centre 
of the occiput and of the nape and hind neck indistinctly edged with rufous-grey ; tertials and the innermost 
feathers of the greater coverts brownish black, broadly edged with fulvous greyish ; primaries and secondaries 
darlt brown, edged with greyish ; rump brownish rufous ; upper tail-coverts dark brown at the centres of the 
feathers ; central tail-feathers and a subterminal band on all the rest black-brown, these latter deeply tipped with 
whitish, W'hieb, together with the black bar, is clearer and more conspicuous beneath ; above the bar a rufous 
patch, chiefly confined to the inner webs of the feathers. 
Lores and supercilium whitish, a small dark spot just in front of the eye ; face and ear-coverts rufescent, the latter 
with pale shafts ; throat and under surface white, changing on the flanks and under tail-coverts into rufescent ; 
wing-lining tinged with the same ; thighs pale rufous. 
Colombo (27th January and 8th Eebruary). These two examples have the feathers of the centre of the crown very 
faintly margined with fawn-colour, the head being scarcely less uniform than in the above ; the feathers of the back 
are darker, as also the wings ; rump deeper rufous. 
(xalle {12th April). Head almost uniform brown ; margins of the feathers just perceptibly paler than the rest of 
the web. 
Colombo (26th October). Feathers of the crowm conspicuously margined with pale fawn, the forehead uniform, and 
the brown tint of the head very dark. 
Horton Plains and Kandapolla (January). These birds are darker above than low-country ones ; the margins of the 
feathers are more greyish than rufescent, the rump rufous-brown, and the tail-feathers with the tips not so white 
as in the above detailed examples ; the spot in front of the eye is darker, and the bill is also blackish ; the under 
surface is not so white, but is pervaded with greyish on the chest, and the flanks are brownish rufous ; the head 
is more plainly striated than in any lowland birds. 
It w'ill be seen from the above that there is but little difference in Ceylon specimens in summer and in winter plumage. 
Genus SCHCENICOLA* (?). 
Bill straight, the culmen curved, compressed, rather deep at the base ; the tip slightly notched. Nostrils oval and 
placed wnll forward ; tw'O or three stout rictal bristles, one of which is much longer and stouter than the others. Wings 
rounded, the 1st quill more than half the length of the longest, which is the 3rd ; the 2nd subequal to the 5th. Tail long, 
of 10 feathers, the middle pair very broad, the laterals graduated. Tarsus long, covered wdth broad transverse scutee ; 
middle toe long, the lateral ones subequal and reaching to the last joint of the middle one ; claws very straight. 
SCHCENICOLA PLATYUEAf?). 
(the broad-tailed reed-bird.) 
Timalia fllatyura, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844, xiii. no. 96 his. 
Schcenicola platyura, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 73 (1863) ; Hume, Str. Peath. 1878, p. 37. 
Adxdt (Ceylon : ex Cuming). Length from skin, which is rather stretched, 6 inches ; wing 2-6 ; taU. 2-7 ; tarsus 0-9 ; 
middle toe 0'7 ; bill to gape 0’61. Lateral tail-feathers 1-3 shorter than the central pair, which are 0'15 longer 
than the adjacent ones ; under tail-coverts 0‘3 shorter than the outermost pair. 
Head, hind neck, back, scapulars, and rump ruddy brown, darkest on the head, and inclining to rufous-brown on the 
*■ These are the characters of a bird presumed to belong to this genus, which is now in the British Museum. 
