25 



" Layard remarks that lie found this Munia about Gall^ ; but as it has 

 never since been seen in Ceylon, and is a bird which does not strictly belong 

 to the south of India, its presence in the Galle district must have been 

 o^Tng to a flock having been let loose from a ship calling at the port. By 

 such means, or by pairs escaping from confinement, the little Amaduvad 

 became uncommon during several years of my residence at Colombo. I 

 am not sure that it bred there ; but it would appear that the present 

 species (^Munia ruhron/gra), if rightly identified, did not propagate itself 

 in the south of Ceylon, or else it would have been met with sub- 

 sequently. 



" I do not find any other record of its occurrence in the South, or, in 

 fact, any lower down the peninsula than Sambalpur. Mr. Cripps says it is 

 nowhere common in Furreedpore ; in North-eastern India it is, according to 

 Mr. Inglis, common during the rains, breeding there in June, July, and 

 August ; in Upper Pegu Mr. Gates records it as likewise common ; but to 

 Tenasserim it is only a summer visitant, Mr. Davidson having observed it 

 there from Mai'ch until August. If identical with Yieillot's bird, it is 

 found at Singapore, and at Sarawak and Labuan. 



" In its habits and voice, Mr. Davidson remarks, ' they resemble other 

 Munias, going about in larger or smaller flocks, and feeding on the ground, 

 chiefly on the grass seeds.' Mr. Gates says it affects elephant-grass and 

 swampy places in preference to others. 



" The breeding season of this handsome Munia in Bengal, Burmah, 

 and Cachar is from June until September ; but in Tenasserim, further 

 south, Mr. Davidson speaks of their laying in April and May. In Pegu 

 Mr. Gates says it breeds in elephant-grass, attaching its nest to two or 

 three stems at a height of four or five feet from the "-round. It is ' a loose 

 mass of grass, spherical, cyhndrical, or heart-shajjed ; the inside is lined 

 with finer grass, the following ends being brought forward to the entrance, 

 which is small and difiicult to find.' In 1874 Mr. C. Parker found it 

 nesting in long grass near the top, the nest being a very conspicuous 

 object ; but in the following year, owing to the grass having been cut 

 down, they selected prickly date-palms and small pines to build in. The 

 eggs vary fi'om two to five in number, and are elongated glossless ovals, 

 from 0'58 to 0"68 inches in length, by 0'4 to 0*47 inch in breadth." 



Mr. J. Scully, in his ' Contributions to the Grnithology of Nepal,' . 



