The specimen described above was killed in a bed of reeds on the border of Laguna de Bay, January 19, 1902. The only other specimen known was taken near Amoy, China, in May, 1861. The original description follows:
Type.—“Upper mandible of bill blackish brown, edge of upper and whole of lower yellow-ocher; rictus and inside of mouth yellow; iris ocherous brown; legs and toes plumbeous, with paler soles; upper parts ocherous olive, with a few rather faint streaks of blackish brown; eyebrow and cheeks ocherous, more buff-colored on the lores; over the eyebrow a black streak marks each side of the head; under parts yellowish buff, much paler on the throat, under neck, and center of belly; wing-coverts and tertiaries deep hair-brown, margined with ocherous olive; quills hair-brown edged with light chestnut-brown; tail pale hair-brown margined with reddish olive which color also tinges the rump; inner edges of the under wing edged with very pale rusty ocher. Length, 116.8; wing, 56.6; tail, 47.7; tarsi, 17.7; bill along culmen, 10.6.
“First quill very small, narrow, and pointed, about 8.6 mm. long; second quill 7 mm. shorter than the third and fourth, which are equal and longest, the fifth quill 3.8 mm. shorter than the third and fourth; the sixth 5.5 mm. shorter than the fifth. Tail much graduated, the rectrices being narrowed at their tips; tarsi thick; toes and claws strong, the hind toe and claw especially so.” (Swinhoe.)
552. ACROCEPHALUS ORIENTALIS (Temminck and Schlegel).
ORIENTAL REED WARBLER.
- Salicaria turdina orientalis Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves (1850), 50.
- Acrocephalus orientalis Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1881), 5, 97; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 210 (migration); Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 187; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1905), 4, 183; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 87.
Batan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Meyer, Steere Exp., McGregor); Luzon (Meyer, Whitehead, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Goodfellow); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Palawan (Platen). Japan, northern China, and eastern Siberia; in winter to Burmese provinces and the Malay Archipelago.
Adult male and female.—Above nearly uniform olive-brown; feathers of back, tail-coverts, and wing-coverts somewhat fringed with ocherous buff; primaries, secondaries, and rectrices dark brown, edged with olive-brown; second primary with a whitish outer web; below white, washed with buff; chin and throat nearly pure white; breast pale buff; sides, flanks, thighs, and crissum considerably darker; lores and spot behind eye brown; eyelids pale buff; a line from nostril over lores and eye to occiput pale buff; feathers of lores and jaws with produced black shaft-tips. The obscure dusky streak on throat and the pale tips to the rectrices, frequently seen in Philippine specimens, are said to be characteristic of birds of the year. Length, about 190. A male in fresh plumage from Calayan measures: Wing, 85; tail, 77; culmen from base, 19; bill from nostril, 13; tarsus, 26. A female from Calayan, wing, 80; tail, 68; culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 13; tarsus, 24.
This species is resident in Bohol and specimens from that island are smaller than those taken in Calayan and in Luzon during migration.