Reed-bird from Eastern Asia. ' 205 
Bill at base exceedingly slender and much depressed. Wing 
of unusual power for such a little bird. Tail almost as in 
Pnoepyga, but somewhat more rounded. Style of coloration 
scaly, as in Pnoepyga. Legs and feet large, strong, and 
coloured as in Horornis. Lower tail-coverts very long. 
Mr. Brooks says, “ I do not know of any genus in which 
this little bird can be placed: the scaly plumage separates it 
from Horornis, Neornis , and Tribura. This, with its queer 
short tail, brings it near Pnoepyga ; but the bill is as slender 
as in Troglodytes , or more so, and the wing is quite unlike 
that of Pnoepyga. I wonder whether ten tail-feathers is the 
correct number; that is the number in my specimen, which 
appears to be perfect.” 
The synonymy of this bird will stand as follows — 
Urosphena squamiceps. (Plate IV.) 
Tribura squamiceps, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 292 ; Ibis, 
1866, p. 397, et 1874, p. 155. 
Hab. Canton (. Blakiston ); Formosa ( Swinhoe ); Hakodadi, 
Japan (. Blakiston ) ; Ussuri district, Manchuria (Taczanowski); 
Tenasserim (Davison). 
The figure (PI. IV.) is taken from the specimen from For¬ 
mosa : a view of the lower surface of the tail-feathers is given 
below the main figure. 
[Since this paper was received I have been able, by Mr. 
Brooks's kindness, to compare the Tenasserim specimen of 
this bird with Mr. Swinhoe's type. I find them obviously 
identical, the former only showing more clearly the extreme 
slenderness of the bill. The Tenasserim skin belongs to Mr. 
Hume, and was obtained at Bankasoon, in the Malewoon dis¬ 
trict, in March 1875, by Mr. W. Davison. It is marked 
? . The legs, feet, claws, and gape, with two thirds of lower 
mandible from gape, are noted as “ fleshy white; upper man¬ 
dible and rest of lower mandible horny brown; irides dark 
brown.”—P. L. S.] 
