17 



a rather large, nearly round or oval neSt, neatly but loosely made of grass, 

 with the hole at one side, this in general being very artfully concealed by 

 the interlacing of the fibres of grass, so that I have been puzzled for a few 

 moments to discover the entrance ; and the four to six eggs in number are 

 pure white." 



Respecting the breeding of this Munia we are indebted to Mr. Allan 

 Hume, whose valuable notes I have much pleasure in quoting. He says : — 

 " Our Indian bird breeds in many localities in Southern India, but though 

 the eggs have been sent to me by many correspondents, only one or two 

 have favoured me with any notes on its nidification. 



" Mr. A. G. R. Theobald writes : — ' I found the nests near Pothanore, 

 in the Coimbatore Disti'ict, during the latter half of October. They were 

 placed amongst reeds growing in a small pond ; they were round, with 

 a round hole in one side for an entrance, and were composed of dry 

 reeds and leaves of some flag-leaved grass veiy like those of the Cholum 

 (Sorghum vidgare). The lining was composed of the hair-like filaments 

 from the broom grass of this country. Seven is, I think, the full 

 complement of eggs ; I never found more in any one nest.' 



" Mr. F. R. Blewitt says : — ' On the 19th July we were encamped in 

 the open forest country in the immediate neighbourhood of the western side 

 of the hill ranges (branches of the great Vindhyian gi'oup) lying in the 

 extreme eastern section of the Bhunclara District. 



" ' In a sugar-cane field not far distant from our camp we found five 

 unfinished, and one all but complete nest, containing a single egg, of the 

 Black-headed Munia. The parent birds were shot while busily engaged in 

 finishing ofi' the entrance of the nest. 



" ' This latter was nearly globular, a mass of coarse grass fined with 

 somewhat finer grass, between six and seven inches in diameter. It was more 

 loosely constructed than those of Estrelda foniiosa, several of which we 

 had found in a similar locality, about a mile distant, two days previously. 

 Both this nest and the other unfinished ones were placed amongst and 

 attached to the cane leaves, precisely after the fashion of the Green 

 Amaduvat.' 



" The eggs of this species, which I owe to Messrs. Carter, Theobald, 

 and others, are of the usual Munia type — dull, pure white, somewhat 

 elongated, oval eggs ; there is nothing that I can see to distinguish them 



