Sylvia lanceolata Temminck, Man. d'Orn. (1840), 4, 614.
Locustella lanceolata Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881),
5, 118; Oates, Fauna Brit. India Birds (1889), 1, 354; Sharpe,
Hand-List (1903), 4, 186; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs
(1905), 4, 180, pl. 9, fig. 9; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 87.
Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (Heriot, McGregor). Russia, Siberia,
and central Asia; in winter to China, Andaman Islands, Indian
Peninsula, and Burmese provinces.
Adult (sexes similar).--Above olivaceous russet-brown, each feather
with a wide seal-brown shaft-streak; primaries and secondaries
seal-brown edged with russet-brown, second primary edged with whitish;
secondary-coverts similar to back; tail nearly uniform brown; sides of
head and ear-coverts brown; a yellowish buff line above, and another
below, eye; cheek and jaw buff, traversed by a narrow blackish brown
line; under parts whitish, washed with buff on fore breast, sides,
flanks, and crissum; feathers of these parts more or less marked with
blackish brown shaft-lines. Bill dusky above, flesh-color below;
legs and nails pale yellowish flesh-color. Length, 120 to 125. A
male from Calayan measures: Wing, 57; tail, 45; culmen from base,
12; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 17. A female, wing, 53; tail, 43;
culmen from base, 11; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 19.
"The streaks on the lower surface become reduced in aged birds. The
bird least marked in my series has a few streaks only on the middle
of the breast and on the flanks, with one or two faint marks on
the under tail-coverts. In this state it is very like the Indian
L. straminea. The majority of the birds are densely streaked from the
chin to the tail-coverts, except on the abdomen; and all these are
characterized by a richer tone of coloring beneath. The tail-coverts
vary in the most extraordinary manner. In many of the birds they are
entirely unmarked; in others densely streaked, and this apparently
quite independently of the amount of streaking on the other parts of
the lower plumage." (Oates.)
Genus ACROCEPHALUS Naumann, 1811.
Bill comparatively long and stout; from three to five large rictal
bristles on each side of bill; wing long, flat, and pointed; first
primary minute, narrow, and pointed; third primary longest, second a
little shorter; tail decidedly rounded; tarsus and feet well developed.
Species.
a1. Much smaller; wing, about 60 mm.; a blackish stripe on each side
of crown. ... sorghophilus (p. 570)
a2. Much larger; wing, about 90 mm.; no blackish stripes on the
crown. ... orientalis (p. 571)