177 



PLOCEUS. L ' ' 



Rocens megmWhns, H,„ne, S F. ttgJM (1875); i,l. Cat. 



(1886). 

 Took-ra, Assam. 



Obturation The male in winter and the female at all seasons 



ii X t™« sexes of P. W« at the same seasons. In 



«e the m^as the forehead, crown, and nape bright yellow ; 



Bl rofS2nt species varies as much as does the last in the in- 

 tensity of the fulvous tinge, and towards the southern porta of 

 the bird's rancre the fulvous changes to a rich tawny. 



The male hi summer has the bill black, the inside of the mouth 

 HelcoTour; eyelid grey; iris dark brown; legs ^bur 

 claws pinkish horn-colour. The male m winter and the female at 

 all seasons have the bill yellowish horn-colour 



Length about 6; tail 2; wing 2-9 ; tarsus -b ; bill from gape 



^This species increases in size from south to , nortt i, and : attains 

 its Greatest size in the Himalayan Terai. Here the tarsus fie- 

 SeSST^hTto a length of -05, and the bill, from gape to tip, 

 ? 8 T To this larger bircf Hume gave the name of rntgarhy^hm 

 It is however, impossible to separate this larger race from the 

 form inhab ting Burma and the Malay peninsula, and consequently 

 Hume's name will stand for the species, no previously-imposed 



^SrSgal and the base of the Him^yas ^ the 

 85th degree of longitude to Assam, and southwards through the 

 whole of Burma to the southern end of the Malay peninsula, ex- 

 endin" to Sumatra and Java. This species, in a somewhat larger 

 form, fs found along the base of the Himalayas as tar west as the 



^JSKta^ to September, constructing a 

 nef v y shnilar to that of P. baya The nest is not u^uendy 

 attached to the thatched eaves of native houses, or even to the 

 entoTthe loose leaves inside the verandahs. The eggs measure 

 about -82 by -6. 



722. Ploceus bengalensis. The BlacJc-throated Weaver-bird. 



Loxia benghalensis, Linn. Syst I Nat. i, p. 305 '0-^k . » M , , 



Ploceus bengalensis (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. p. 115; #<%* f- L f 



;; -r, <;iv Tprd B L ii. D. 349; Hume, N. Sf h. p. 441 , id Lot, 



nYtiOO • '(££ I: B. t I 361 ;' Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, ,, 493 , 



VOL. II. 



