23 



Female. Similar, but rather paler ; the mesial band not so black, and slightly tinged with 

 brown. 



Young. Head, whole of back and -wings dull brown ; slightly tinged with rufous-brown on 

 the rump ; chin and throat buffisli- white ; breast and sides of body Like the back ; ab- 

 domen and under taU-coverts buffish-white. 



Observ. During the past eighteen years I have had many opportunities of seeing Munia 

 sinensis and Munia atricapilla alive and in skin, which I consider constitute two well- 

 defined species ; the former from Sumatra, the latter from India. In one the black 

 mesial band is most decided, while in the other it is absent, but in the intermediate 

 phases the black mesial band of the Indian bird is occasionally tinged with chestnut- 

 brown ; the crown and hind neck being slightly tinged with the same, which becomes 

 entirely black in the fully adult birds. 



In 180.5 Vieillot, iii his ' Oiseaux Cbanteurs,' figured and described a 

 Black-lieaded Munia under the name of ' Mungul ' (Loxia atricapilla), 

 from " Les Grandes-Indes," and, in doing so, he distinctly mentions that 

 " les parties poster ieures sont de la couleur de la tete " ; he confirms this in the 

 figure of the bird, which has a black abdomen, and again repeats the above 

 quotation in the ' Xouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle,' xiii. 1817 ; 

 he is even more concise in the Latui diagnosis of the same species in the 

 ' Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique,' iii. 1823 — viz., " ahdomine crissoque 

 nigris." In comparing this latter description of the under-parts with that 

 given by Mr. B. H. Hodgson in the ' Asiatic Researches,' vol. ix. (1836), of 

 his Munia ruhronigra, which is as follows : " Head, neck, and breast glossy 

 black ; centre of the belly, vent, and under tail-coverts the same " — and by 

 a careful comparison of specimens, I have come to the conclusion that M. 

 Vieillot's Loxia atricapilla is the true Indian species, and should have 

 priority. 



Messrs. Motley and Dillwyn state : " In Labuan, which is compara- 

 tively but little cleared and cultivated, this pretty Finch is rare ; on the 

 mainland of Borneo, however, it is a very common species, and immense 

 flocks of them assemble and often clear a paddy-field in a single day ; 

 when feeding they are never still for a moment, and it is very amusing to 

 watch them hanging on the leaves and stalks of the grass in every pos- 

 sible direction. Their nests (one of which is figured) are built in long 

 grass by the sides of streams." 



Mr. T. C. Jerom, iu his ' Birds of India,' tells us : " This very closely 



