Definition of Genus Cisticola.

A n assemblage of forty species perhaps more nearly akin to those of the genera Apalis, Prinia, Incana, and Franklinia than any other; of size and proportions varying from about those of the tiny Phylloscopus proregulus to those of the large Sylvia nisoria , but with proportionately blunter and shorter wings, bills and tails of great variety of length and shape, but the tail most often well graduated—coloration almost entirely composed of sober shades and tints of browns, greys, buffs, and reds, with or without black above, and whitish with more or less of colour‐wash here and there below: very great variety of colour‐pattern, the head‐top often concolorous with, but as often in contrast with the back, frequently redder; and both, or either one or the other, plain or patterned with black in every degree of shade, profusion, and style: the lower side generally plain, rarely spotted, the tail of a decorative “spotted fan” pattern, except when sometimes modified so as to look plain—either all black or all light coloured.