ACEOCEPHALUS DUMETOEUM. 
(BLYTHES REED-WARBLER.) 
Acrocephalus dimetorum, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. 815 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
App. p. 326 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 120 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 
1853, xii. p. 263 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 332 (1854); Jerdon, B. 
of Ind. ii. p. 155 (1863) ; Iloldsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 455; Adam, Str. Eeath. 1873, 
p. 381; Brooks, ibid. 1875, ]3- 241; Anderson, t.c. p. 351; Butler, t.c. p. 479; 
Dresser (Severtzoff’s Fauna of Turkestan), Ibis, 1876, p. 84. 
Calamodyta dumetorum (BL), Hume, Nests & Eggs, ii. p. 327 (1874) ; Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, 
p. 414. 
The Lesser Reed-Warhler, ^erdLOw, The Bush-Warhler of some. TV^ra, Bengal. ; Podena, 
Hind. ; Tik-tiMi, Mussulmen, 
Adult male and female. Length 5'4 to 5-G inches ; wing 2-35 to 2-55 ; tail 2-1 ; tarsus 0-8 to 0-9 ; middle toe and claw 
0-6 to 0-68 ; bill to gape 0’7 to 0-72 ; 2nd quill equal to the 6th. 
Iris clear olive ; bill dusky brown or dark brown above, lower mandible light fleshy, tip slightly dusky ; legs and feet 
plumbeous or bluish grey, claws dusky bluish. 
Above uniform brownish olive, paling slightly towards the upper tail-coverts ; in some specimens the upper surface is 
of a darker hue than in others and the forehead deeper in colour ; wings and tail hair-brown, edged with the hue 
of the back ; orbital fringe fulvous-grey ; lores dusky, surmounted by a pale supercilium ; cheeks mottled brownish ; 
beneath white, more or less shaded with pale brownish on the sides of the chest and flanks, this colour blending 
into the wHte with a fulvous tinge ; the hue of the sides of the neck likewise blends softly into the white of the 
throat. 
Young. Some specimens which are obtainable in Ceylon during the season of their visit have the tips of the secon- 
daries and tertials pale ; these are probably immature birds. 
Obs. Ceylonese specimens of this bird were stated to possess a greenish shade ; they, however, migrate to us from the 
peninsula of India, and it is difficult to see how they could differ from their fellows on the mainland. I find that 
the hue of the upper surface varies in specimens from India and elsewhere ; and in comparing six from Ceylon with 
the same number from India and Siberia, I observe that the former as a whole are not more olivaceous on the back 
than the latter. The wing in nine examples varies from 2-3 to 2-5 inches, one specimen from Etawah alone exceeding 
2'4; A. dumetorum is the Indian representative of the Reed-Warbler of Europe (A. stre2)ents), wffiich is a summer 
visitor to England. It is closely allied to this latter, differing from it in the proportion of the longer primaries to 
one another, which give it a more rounded wing ; likewise in its deeper bill, the more olivaceous tint of the upper 
surface, and its somewhat smaller size. Various examples of A. streperus which I have examined vary in the 
wing from 2-45 to 2-5 inches in males, and from 2-4 to 2'.5 in females. The 2nd quill or 1st long primary is equal 
to the 4th. 
The following comparison of the difierentiating characters of these two Warblers will show at a glance in what respect 
they differ: — , r n+i n for 
A. strepifrus. Larger, browner on the lower back; bill slender ; 2nd quill (1st long primary) equal or s ig y s or 
than the 4th. j -ii i f fVi Cfli 
A. dumetorum. Smaller, back and rump more olivaceous than in A. streperus, bill stouter ; 2nd qui equa o e 
The Acrocephalus montanus of Jerdon, B. of Ind. p. 155, and which he compares with A. is a small Babbler 
(Alcippe), about the size of A. nigrifrons. There is, at least, a specimen of it, collecte y r. a a^ce, in e 
British Museum, and provisionally labeUed A. montanus. It is olivaceous brown above and pale beneath, tinged 
with fulvous. 
Distribution.— Lesser Reed- Warbler (or Bush- Warbler, as it would be more appropriately called, as 
4 A 
