Sylvia cisticola Temminck, Man. d'Orn. (1820), 1, 228.
Cisticola cisticola Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 7, 259;
Hand-List (1903), 4, 197; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 221 (habits);
Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1905), 4, 191; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 89.
Gug-nás, Batan; Tic-tic-ru-bo, Calayan.
Batan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett); Calayan (McGregor); Camiguin
N. (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor); Luzon (Heriot, Steere Exp.,
Whitehead, Bartsch); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu
(Bartsch). Indian and Malay Peninsulas, southern Europe,
Indo-Chinese countries, Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, Ceylon,
China, Africa, Celebes.
Male, in worn plumage (Batan Island, June).--Above earthy brown;
head and neck nearly uniform, much faded; feathers of back and
tail-coverts with wide blackish brown centers; lores and superciliary
line white; cheeks, ear-coverts, and under parts white; flanks and
thighs ocherous-buff; wing-feathers dark or blackish brown with whitish
edges; rectrices dark brown basally, followed by a wide ocherous-buff
space, subterminal band blackish brown, wide tip white. Wing, 53;
tail, 40; culmen from base, 12; bill from nostril, 8; tarsus, 23.
Male and female in fresh plumage (Calayan Island, November).--Similar
to the male described, but feathers on head blackish brown, edged
with buff; neck, rump, and edges of dorsal feathers dark buff, more
rusty buff on rump; edges of wing-feathers wider and more rusty
than in the worn plumage; middle pair of rectrices dark buff with
blackish shaft-streaks, the shafts light; outermost pair of rectrices
with outer webs and wide tips white, the greater part of inner webs
blackish; remaining rectrices with wide white tips and subterminal
black bands, the latter fading into dark brown toward base of tail;
under part of body white; breast and crissum washed with buff; flanks
and thighs rusty buff. Male, wing, 56; tail, 53; culmen from base,
11; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 22. Female, wing, 48; tail, 46;
culmen from base, 10; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 20.
On the authority of Colonel Legge, Sharpe says that in the male the
inside of the mouth is black, while in the female it is fleshy.
"Common in the deep grass of the open fields. The habits of the various
species of this genus found in the Philippines are practically the
same. They live in the grass, and when flushed fly in a curious, jerky
way for a short distance, and then drop back into the grass where they
instantly disappear. They sometimes perch on tall grass stems or low
bushes, and make a series of noises more like the notes of some great
grasshopper than those of a bird. We several times found them perched
in trees and singing. Four females from Mindanao measure: Length, 105;
wing, 46; tail, 38; culmen, 12; tarsus, 19; middle toe with claw,
17. Legs, feet, and nails pale reddish brown; upper mandible nearly
black, lower pale at tip, black at base." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)