86 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



biscuit or satoo, should be provided, and it is as well to get 

 them used to this beforehand. Java Sparrows are not 

 aggressive birds, but they should nevei- be shut up closely 

 with weaker ones, as they are given to foot-biting, espe- 

 cially the white ones, which are more vicious and biscer 

 than the grey birds. With such birds as Weavers and 

 Budgerigars they will do very well. The cock Java has 

 a rather pretty bubbling song, but the notes of the two 

 varieties are not quite the same. Their ordinary voice 

 is a liquid chirp, very pleasant to hear, and, altogether, 

 if it could be so arranged, they w^ould be very nice substi- 

 tutes, as town birds, for that scoundrel Philip Sparrow. 

 1 found them established as citizens in Zanzibar ten 

 years ago, and tried to start them in Calcutta, but they 

 always flew straight away, when turned out. However, 

 I have seen a few in the Museum compound, so perhaps 

 they linger somewhere. 



The Java Sparrow is nearly as big as the common House- 

 Sparrow, but most of the Munias are only about half 

 this size. They are very commonly kept, but it must be 

 confessed they are desperately uninteresting little birds, 

 and I do not advise any one to begin with them, although 

 they are rather pretty and very cheap. One of the 

 commonest, and one pai-ticularly suitable for notice here, 

 as it often comes into gardens, is : — 



Thk Ni'iMEc-niKD {Urolonc/ut j/xnclulalu), so called by 

 Kn;:lish dealers, who also know it as the Spice-bird ; by 

 natives it is called the Tilia Muniaor Spotted Munia. 

 This is figured on Plate II, where Fig. 3 will give a general 

 idea of it. Both cock and hen are alike, but the young 



