Megalurus timoriensis Wallace, 1864

A medium- sized, rather drab grassbird with long and graduated tail, rectrices narrowing to blunt tip but not becoming unduly frayed. Nominate race has short, indistinct off- whitish supercilium contrasting little with relatively plain face; forehead, crown and nape rufous (faintly streaked), contrasting with “saddle“ of bold black streaking on mantle, back and scapulars; rump and uppertail- coverts rufous brown, wings also rufous, tertials with wide blackish centres; tail warm brown, shading darker towards feather shafts; lores and ear- coverts plain sandy brown, shading to off- white on throat and breast; flanks and undertail- coverts unstreaked greyish- buff; iris yellowish- brown; bill pinkish- brown, paler on lower mandible, darkest on culmen; legs fleshy- pink to fleshy- brown. Distinguished from M. macrurus by smaller size, relatively shorter tail (tail/ wing ratio 1,15- 1,38, as opposed to 1,4- 1,52 of latter) with slightly blunter and stiffer feather tips (not becoming frayed), also relatively smaller bill; from M. gramineus by larger size, brighter plumage, lack of streaking below, paler legs. Sexes similar, male larger than female; presence of dark crown spotting may a sexual difference, rather than an age- related one. Juvenile is similar to adult in fresh plumage, but iris dark brown (not yellowish- brown). Race alisteri is similar to nominate but less bright rufous on crown and rump, and has fine blackish streaks on uppertail- coverts; amboinensis is similar to previous but smaller (wing 58- 61 mm, compared with 62- 68 mm), with crown and rump unstreaked but with dark shaft streaks on uppertail- coverts; inquirendus is richly coloured, like nominate, but has well- defined spotting on breast and crown; celebensis is heavily streaked on crown and rump; muscalis has boldly streaked crown but relatively plain rump; tweeddalei is both richly coloured and the largest (wing 76 mm); mindorensis is darker above than previous; alopex is even more richly coloured than tweeddalei, with rather indistinct supercilium; crex darker and somewhat greyer than previous; mindorensis, alopex and crex are all somewhat intermediate in size (wing 70 mm).