24 



allied species, wMch differs from the last (Munia malacca) only in having 

 the belly chestnut in place of white, replaces it in the north of India, being 

 found throughout Lower Bengal, and all along the foot of the Himalayas 

 as far as the Dehra Doon, and also in some of the more wooded adjacent 

 districts ; but it would appear to be rare in the open country of the N.W. 

 Provinces. I have seen specimens from the eastern coast north of 

 Madras, and Mr. Layard procured it in Ceylon, but it is certainly rare in 

 Southern India. It is much more common in the countries to the east- 

 ward, Assam, and Burmah as far as the Tenasserim provinces, southwards 

 of which it is replaced by M. sinensis, which wants the black abdominal 

 stripe altogether. 



" According to Mr. Frith the nest is ordinarily placed in a baubal tree 

 in Lower Bengal, solitarily, and is comi^osed of a large ball of the tufts of 

 Sacchai'um spontaneum. I have always found its nest fixed to reeds or long 

 grass, and suspect that Mr. Frith must have been mistaken in the identity 

 of the owner of the nest above noticed, the more so because that is exactly 

 the character, both as to matei-ials and site, of the nest of the next species 

 (Munia punctulata) noticed." 



In ' Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,' Mr. Allen Hume writes : " Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Hodgson the Chestnut-bellied Munia breeds in the lower 

 valleys and cultivated plains of Nepal in open jungle or brushwood, form- 

 ing a large globular nest in the midst of bamboos, thick bushes, or grass, 

 on or close to the ground, composed of dry grass or straw loosely twisted 

 together, and lined with finer rice straw. It lays from June to August 

 four to six small, oval, pure white eggs. 



" I have recently had an opportunity of examining a large series of 

 this species, including specimens from various parts of India, Burmah, the 

 Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and I must say that I see 

 great difficulty in dividing them as distinct species. They appear to grade 

 wonderfully one into the other, and I should mj'self be disposed to sup- 

 press sinensis, Blyth, brunneiceps, Walden, &c., and retain all under 

 Yieillot's name." 



Captain W. V. Legge, in his ' Birds of Ceylon,' says : " Doubts exist 

 whether Yieillot's name atricapilla (Ois. Chant. 84, pi. 53) applies to this 

 bird or not. I retain Hodgson's name, however, as the species only takes 

 a doubtful place among the oruis of Ceylon. 



