Genus — CISTICOLA. 
Cisticola Kaup, Skizz. Entwick. Gesch. Nat. 
Syst., p. 119 (pref. Apl.) 1829. Type (by 
taut onymy ) ... ... ... ... ... Sylvia cisticola Temminck. 
Cysticola Lesson, Traite d’Orn. livr. 6 e , p. 415, 
March 1, 1831. Type (by taut onymy) ... Sylvia cisticola Temminck. 
Very small Warblers, peculiarly dimorphic seasonally, with small bills, short 
rounded wings, long fan-shaped tails, long legs and small feet. 
The bill is shorter than the head, generally apieally compressed, with a 
little basal expansion, the culmen-ridge rounded, the tip arched but not 
notched ; nasal-groove small, about one-fourth the length of the bill, the 
nostrils linear slit strongly operculate ; there is one notable rictal bristle ; 
the lower mandible is a little flattened, the interramal space about half the 
length and flattened, the gonys nearly straight and slender. 
The wing is short and rounded, the first primary short about half the 
length of the second, which is equal to the eighth ; the third, fourth, fifth 
and sixth are equal and longest, the rest little less and the secondaries are 
nearly as long equalling the tenth. 
The tail is long and fan-shaped, composed of twelve feathers. 
The legs are long and thin, the tarsus booted anteriorly and bilaminate 
posteriorly ; the toes long and thin, the mid-toe longest, the outer longer 
than the inner, the claws sharp ; the hind-toe stouter and claw longer. 
The genus is probably the most perplexing to deal with, as, while male 
and female differ in size, they differ in form seasonally, the tail and wings 
being longer in winter than in summer, and, of course, in the tropics where 
the seasons vary the differences become slighter and agree with the wet and 
dry seasons which are erratic in different localities. 5 
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