Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 97



The sultry groves of India are not without birds which recall to the European the songsters of his own distant land. And although nature, in her boundless profusion, has so distributed her productions that even the little "Kitty Wren" may in vain be looked for beyond the confines of Europe, its representative in the East is no less neat, active, and familiar to the habitations of man. The Prinia familiaris, observes Dr. Horsfield (whose politeness enables us to figure the bird), is abundant in many parts of Java, near villages and gardens, in the confines of which, among trees and shrubs, it builds its nest. Sprightly and active in all its motions, it sports among the branches in short and rapid flights, and has received its native name from its enlivening and pleasant notes. Our figure is the size of life, and to avoid a tedious description, all the details have been accurately measured.

We must refer the scientific Ornithologist, for our exposition of the natural affinities of this group, to Northern Zoology, vol. 2, p. 200. It is unquestionably the Rasorial and Scansorial genus of the Sub-family Sylvianæ, as there pointed out, and of which Orthotomus is a sub-genus, or type of form.