943. Prinia inornata blanfordi

(943) Prinia inornata blanfordi Wald.
THE COMMON TENASSERIM WREN-WARBLER.
Prinia inornata blanfordi, Fauna B. I., Birds, 2nd ed. vol. ii, p. 537.
This subspecies of the Common Wren-Warbler is found in Burma from about the latitude of Thayetmyo to the extreme South .
Oates’s description of the haunts of this bird is so full and com¬plete that I quote it in extenso:—“The Burmese [=Tenasserim] Wren-Warbler is perhaps the commonest bird in the Pegu Plains. From Myitkyo on the Sittang down to Rangoon it is to be found in all the low tracts covered with grass.
"Where it occurs it is a constant resident and breeds from May to August. I have found the nest in the middle of May, but it is not till July that the bulk of the birds lay.
“The nest is never more than 4 feet from the ground and is attached to two or three stalks of the elephant-grass or to the stem of a low weed, or to the blades of certain tender grasses which grow in thick tufts. There is little or no attempt at concealment. The materials forming the nest are entirely fine grasses, of equal coarseness or fineness throughout, gathered green, and so beautifully woven together that it is impossible to destroy a nest by tearing it asunder, although it may be looked through. In shape it is somewhat of a cylinder, with a tendency to swell out at the middle. Its length, or rather height (for its longer axis, being invariably parallel to the stalks to which it is attached, is generally upright), is from 6 to 8 inches, and its extreme width 4. The entrance is placed at the top of the nest, the sides of which are produced an inch or two above the lower edge of the entrance. The thickness of the wall is very small, seldom reaching half, and generally being only a quarter of an inch thick.”
To the above notes Mackenzie, who has taken dozens, and seen hundreds, of nests, says that though the great majority of nests are oval and domed, some are egg-shaped and others are deep purses.
The breeding season is June, July and August, very few birds breeding in the last month.
The eggs nearly always number four ; perhaps five to ten per cent of birds lay only three, while about two or three per cent, lay five.
The eggs are marked like those of the other races of Common Wren-Warblers, but very few have a blue ground and none the bright deep blue of the eggs of the Indian and Ceylon birds. Many have a deep salmon ground, others a pale blue, more or less strongly tinged with cream or salmon, whilst a few are pale, almost skim- milk blue. Examining the eggs as a series it is noticeable that very large blotches predominate and that lines and hieroglyphics are not so numerous. The large number of eggs in which the blotches form caps at the larger end also strikes one. I have seen only a single egg with a white ground, one of a clutch of five, the other four being a pale pinky blue.
Two hundred eggs average 15.7 x 11.5 mm. : maxima 17.2 x 12.1 and 16.5 x 12.6 mm. ; minima 14.25 x 10.5 mm. (Mackenzie).