5M BIRDS OF INDIA. 



India. It is much more common in the countries to the eastward, 

 Assam, and Burmah as far as the Tenasserim provinces, south- 

 wards of which it is rephiced hy M. sinensis, which wants the 

 black abdominal stripe altogether. 



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

 Banbul tree in Lower Bengal, solitarily, and is composed of a large 

 ball of the tufts of Saccharum spontane/tm. 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 materials and site, of the nest of the next species 

 noticed. 



699. Munia undulata, Latham. 



Loxia, apud Latham — Blyth, Cat. 624 — Horsf., Cat. 772 — 

 M. lineoventer, Hodgson — Amadina punctularia, apud Peakson 

 — Lonchura nisoria, apud Sykes, Cat. 109 — Jkudon, Cat. 172 — 

 Edwards, Birds, pi. 40 — 'J'elia munia, H. in the North — Sing-baz 

 or Shin-haz, H. in the Deccan, and at Mussooree — Shuts munia, 

 Beng. — Kakkara jinuwayi, Tel. 



The Spotted Munia. 



Descr. — Above ruddy brown, deeper on the head and neck, 

 inclining to whitish on the rump, and the upper tail-coverts and 

 margins of the lateral tail-feathers, glistening fulvous ; quills 

 chesnut externally, dusky within ; beneath, the chin and throat, 

 with the face and ear-coverts, rich chesnut ; breast and flanks 

 white, with numerous zig-zag cross bars of black; lower abdomen, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts, whitish, unmarked. 



Bill and legs plumbeous ; irides brown. Length 4^ inches ; 

 wing 2y^,y ; tail 1^; bill at front j^^j ; tarsus ^^. The two central 

 tail-feathers are very slightly elongated. The young are rufous 

 brown above, paler below. 



The Spotted or Barred Munia is found throughout India and 

 Ceylon, somewhat rare in the extreme south, common in the north, 

 and spreading into Assam, and Burmah as far as Tenasserim. It is 



