elsewhere, remarking that " Bornean specimens are similar to Indian, with 

 belly and lower tail-coverts black ; in the Sumatran this black is almost 

 obsolete ; and in those from Macassar the black beneath is well develo^ied, 

 while that of the head and neck is much imbrowned. It is quite arbitrary 

 where to draw the line as to what are to be considered species, races, or 

 varieties, in the genus Munia, at least in not a few instances." 



Ujion the above remarks the Marquis of Tweeddale separated the Cele- 

 bean form from the Philippine and Formosan birds in the ' Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society ' for 1875, under the name of Munia hrunneiceps ; 

 " from a Macassar example of a male collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace, and 

 another from the same locality marked a female." " Were it not (he says) 

 that Mr. E. Blyth had already remarked the imbrowned colouring of the 

 head and neck in examples from Celebes, contained in the Leyden Museum, 

 I should have felt less confidence in considering these Macassar individuals 

 distinct from Munia rubronigra, Hodgs." 



This Celebean Munia is closely allied in every respect to the Philippine 

 bird above described, and almost identical with the Formosan species, which 

 are all insular races of the true Indian form, Munia atricapilla, very diffi- 

 cult to separate, and should in my opinion be united under one name, 

 Munia minuta, Meyen. 



Dr. A. B. Meyer tells us in his ' Field-Notes on the Birds of Celebes,' 

 that Munia hrunneicejjn is found " in flocks in March, near Menado, and in 

 Macassar in January. According to age and sex, vary very much in the 

 intensity of its brown and black colours. 



" Iris brown ; bill bluish ; feet and claws light greyish-blue." 



No. Sex. Mus. Locality. Length. Wing. Tail. Tars. Culm. 



a. i E. B. South Celebes (Z)r. Ptoeji) 3-65 1-95 1-35 0-55 04 



b. adult. Boucard. Celebes. 3-3 2-0 1-2 0-55 045 

 e. adult. Boucard. Celebes. 35 1-95 1-35 0-6 0--lo 



The figure (Plate YI. fig. 2) is taken from the specimen a procured 

 by Dr. Platen in South Celebes. 



