ORNITIlOLOa Y. 383 



desci-ibcs the one :is the repi'escntativc of the other, ami sucli rcprcscnt:itiv(! races 

 arc best kept united as such without actual specific rank. 



SipniA STROi'HiATA, Huil^. Arakau. Tcnasserira. 



S. KKYTiiACA, BIyth and jeidon. I'ahijoon pine forests. Karen-ui at 4000 feet. 



Eeythkosteena ALiticiLLA, Pall. Bikkiiu. Pegu. Martaban. Tenasserim. 



E. hucv.ni, Gmcl. 



E. ACORNANs, Hodg. iMartaban and Karcn-ni at 2500. 



Elyth and "Walden both give this bird a habitation in Burma, while Hume and 

 Brooks "(S.E. v. p. 471) seem to question its existouce as a separate species. 



E. siaculata, Tickell. Mooleyit at 5000. Karen-ni at 3000 feet. 



E. pusilla, Blyth $ . 



CONIROSTRES. 



Bill short, stout, conical. Mostly small-sized granivorous birds. Some of them 

 are very sweet singers. 



Famihi Fringillidse. 

 The finches are divided by Jenlon into the following sub-families : Ploceino) or 

 Wea^•cr birds ; Estreldinm or Amadavats or Avadavats (a barbarous attempt to convey 

 the name of the mart, Ahmedahad, wlienee they were originally imported to Europe); 

 J'lisseriiue or Sparrows ; Eiaherainie or Buntings ; Fringilliiuc or Finches ; and Alau- 

 dinte or Larks. 



rLOCEI.\.E. 

 Ploceus Javaxexsis, Less. Pegu. Siam. 



P. JIANYAR, Horsf. 



P. strinlus, Blyth. Arakan. Pegu. Siam. 



P. Benoalexsis, L. Pegu. Ava. 



P. Baya, Blyth. Arakan. Pegu. Philippines. 



P. HYPoxANTHcs, Band. ■ Pegu. 



The nest of the bayas is a compact retort-shaped structure of interwoven strips 

 of grass, fixed pendant to the fronds of some tall palm or other trees (I can't help it 

 if people will see a pun),' or sometimes, as at Kangoon, to the eaves of houses. It is 

 too well known to neecl description, but one curious point connected with the little 

 dabs of clay fixed on cither side of the perch, is the extravagantly foolish reasons 

 which have been assigned by able naturalists to account for their presence. Layard 

 suggests that the birds may clean their bills on them. Burgess that they strengthen 

 tlie nest, which, considering the nest is so firm a structure as to tax a strong man to 

 rend it asunder, is little less than preposterous ; and Jerdon, that it helps to balance 

 the nest, and j)revent its being blown about, which seems to me no less extravagant. 

 I would suggest its being the survival of some trait of a remote ancestor, when the 

 liabit, indulged in to a greater degree, may have possessed a function and use which 

 the present dab of clay now no longer fulfils. For a full account of the interesting 

 haliits of this clever and docile bird reference may to made to Jerdon's ' Birds,' 

 vol. ii. p. 343. 



ESTRELDIXiE. 



MiTNlA ETTBElNioRA, Hodg. Arakan. Pegu. Tenasserim. 



Lord Walden remarks: " Boniean specimens are similar to Indian and Burmese, 

 having the black of tlic alidominal region and lower tail-coverts well developed ; but 

 this black is much reduced in quantity, and sometimes nearly obsolete, in examples 

 from Malacca and Sumatra. In the race inhabiting Celebes (J/, brunnciceps. "Walden), 

 the black beneath is well developed, while that on the head and neck is much 

 cndjrowned. The race with white imdoqiarts, having the black abdominal patch 

 and lower tail-coverts (Edwards, pi. 355), lias never been observed eastward of the 

 Bay of Bengal, but occui's rarely in Lower Bengal, and prevalently (if not whoUy) 



' The Barassus is the ' Til ' palm of Bengal. 



