Part 230

Su-nód ca-la-bao, Manila.

Bohol (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Luzon (Cuming, Kittlitz, Everett, Steere Exp., Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor, Bartsch); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Mearns); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Everett, Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp.); Ticao (McGregor). Manipur, Burmese provinces, southeastern New Guinea, northern and central India to Bhutun and Buxa Doars, Assam, Java.

Adult.--Above sandy buff; back heavily streaked with black; top of head and tail-coverts faintly streaked with brown; superciliary line white; ear-coverts and space behind eye sandy brown; lores and cheeks whitish; under parts white; sides of breast, flanks, thighs, and crissum washed with buff; lower throat, sides, and crissum with dark brown shaft-lines; wing-feathers blackish, edged with pale sandy buff; basal portion of primaries and secondaries edged with light rusty buff; rectrices brown, edged with lighter brown. Iris brown; upper mandible brown, lower mandible horn-blue; legs and feet brown. In worn plumage the upper parts appear much blacker and the shaft-streaks on under parts are more prominent. A male from Luzon measures: Wing, 100; tail, 142; culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 36. A female in worn plumage, wing, 85; tail, 113; culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 11; tarsus, 33.

Young.--Immature birds are distinguished by having sides of head and under parts washed with pale lemon-yellow. In Benguet Province, Luzon, this species was found breeding during April and May.

"The striated marsh warbler is found about the open fields. It runs rapidly on the ground and skulks in bamboo thickets and patches of tall grass and weeds. It soars and attempts to sing while on the wing; also perches at the very top of bamboo clumps, and 'sings' vigorously." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

567. MEGALURUS TWEEDDALEI McGregor.

TWEEDDALE'S MARSH WARBLER.

Megalurus ruficeps, not Megalurus ? ruficeps Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1832), 91, Tweeddale, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1877), 20, 95; Proc. Zool. Soc. (1877), 695, pl. 72; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 7, 125; Hand-List (1903), 4, 202; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 240, pl. 5, fig. 7 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 219 (habits); Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1905), 4, 200, pl. 9, fig. 19; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 89. Megalurus tweeddalei McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1908), 3, sec. A, 283.

Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Bohol (Steere Exp., McGregor); Cebu (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Everett, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (McGregor); Mindanao (Platen, Goodfellow, Celestino); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Keay, Celestino); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Whitehead); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor).

Adult.--Entire top of head rufous-brown; sides of neck and back olive-gray, the latter heavily streaked with blackish brown; lower back and rump olive-brown; tail-coverts olive-gray with narrow brown shaft-lines; lores, superciliary line, cheeks, and ear-coverts ashy gray; a rufous line behind eye; under parts whitish; sides ashy gray, flanks browner; thighs and crissum buff; wings and tail brown with lighter brown edges. A male from Mindanao measures: Wing, 69; tail, 107; culmen from base, 17; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 28. A female from Luzon, wing, 66; tail, 114; culmen from base, 15; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 27.

"Five males average: Length, 225; wing, 71; tail, 109; culmen, 18.5; tarsus, 27.6; middle toe with claw, 28. Five females, length, 211; wing, 68; tail, 104; culmen, 18.5; tarsus, 27.6; middle toe with claw, 28. Iris brown; legs and feet light brown." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Three eggs of Tweeddale's marsh warbler, collected by Steere in Marinduque, May 8, 1888, are thus described: "Shape ovate. Ground-color very pale pinkish white, sparingly marked all over with small blotches and minute dots of light red and pale violet-gray under-markings, the latter forming a more or less distinct zone round the larger pole. Measurements 21 mm. by 16 mm. Nest of the bulbul type, lined with fine wiry grasses and fiber." (Grant and Whitehead.)

Genus ACANTHOPNEUSTE Blasius, 1858.

Bill slender and acute, a slight notch near its tip; rictal and nasal bristles short; wing long and pointed; first primary very short, slender and acute, usually little more or less in length than primary-coverts; third and fourth primaries longest; tail moderate in length and square; tarsus and toes slender; bill from nostril less than one-half tarsus and equal to hind toe with half its claw; divisions between tarsal scutes obsolete. Upper parts dull olive-green, under parts pale yellow or white. The birds of this genus resemble some of the small flycatchers (Cryptolopha), but are distinguished by their short first primary.

Species.

a1. Second primary equal to or greater than the sixth.

b1. First primary shorter, from 7.5 to 11.5 mm. in length, equal to or less than the primary-coverts; under parts grayer ... borealis (p. 584) b2. First primary longer, from 12.5 to 15 mm. in length, and longer than primary-coverts; under parts yellower ... xanthodryas (p. 585)

a2. Second primary equal to or greater than the ninth, and from 17 to 20 mm. in length; under parts grayish yellow ... lugubris (p. 586)

568. ACANTHOPNEUSTE BOREALIS (Blasius).

NORTHERN WILLOW WARBLER.

Phyllopneuste borealis Blasius, Naumannia (1858), 313. Phylloscopus borealis Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5, 40; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 210 (migration). Acanthopneuste borealis Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1889), 1, 412; Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 216; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1905), 4, 227; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 90.

Balabac (Everett); Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Caluya (Porter); Cebu (McGregor); Cuyo (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor); Guimaras (Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Everett, Whitehead, McGregor, Bartsch); Maestre de Campo (McGregor & Worcester); Masbate (Steere Exp.); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Celestino); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Negros (Whitehead); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Steere Exp.); Polillo (McGregor); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Celestino); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor). Northern Europe, northern Asia, Alaska, Commander Islands; in winter to China, Formosa, Indo-Chinese provinces, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo.

"Coloration.--Upper plumage olive-green, lighter on the rump; wings brown, the outer webs edged with olive-green; wing-coverts brown on the inner and olive-green on the outer webs; the median and greater coverts with yellowish white tips forming two bars; tail brown, the outer webs edged with olive-green; a broad and well-defined eye-streak, reaching to the nape, yellowish white; lores brown; ear-coverts olive mingled with yellowish; under plumage white, suffused with yellow; under wing-coverts and axillars pale yellow.

"As the summer goes on the wing-bars get worn away and the upper one is sometimes absent. The lower plumage gets whiter and the upper plumage duller. After the autumn molt the wing-bars are very conspicuous and the under parts become suffused with deeper yellow.

"Upper mandible dark brown, the edges and tip yellow; gape and basal half of the lower mandible orange-yellow, terminal half dusky; mouth bright orange-yellow; iris dark brown; legs flesh-color tinged with yellow; claws yellowish horn-color. Length, 122; tail, 51; wing, 68.5; tarsus, 20; bill from gape, 17; the second primary is intermediate in length between the fifth and sixth, and is sometimes equal to the sixth; the first primary is very small, measuring from 7.6 to 11.4 in length." (Oates.)

The arctic willow warbler is the commonest species of the genus and is found in the Philippines during the winter months. Most of the specimens taken at this time have the under parts but faintly suffused with yellow and in this plumage the wing-bar is indicated by light spots on the outer webs of some of the greater coverts. This plainly colored species is usually seen flitting among the branches of forest trees and at such heights that it can not be distinguished from other species of similar habits.

569. ACANTHOPNEUSTE XANTHODRYAS (Swinhoe).

YELLOW WILLOW WARBLER.