On the Specific Validity of Ploceus megarliynchus. 29 



VI. — On the Specific Validity 0/ Ploceus megarhynchus Hume. 



By F. Finn, Deputy Superintendent, Indian Museum, 



Calcutta. 



(Plate I.) 

 The large Indian Weaver- bird described by A. O. Hume as 

 Ploceus megarhynchus has been united by Dr. R. B. Sharpe 

 in the ' Catalogue of Birds/ and by Mr. E. W. Gates in 

 the 'Fauna of British India/ with the eastern form of the 

 Baya Weaver-bird, although this appellation was bestowed by 

 Mr. Hume on what he considered to be a distinct species. 

 Mr. Hume^s types, obtained from Kaladoongi, below Naini 

 Tal, are in the British Museum, and a recent examination 

 of these specimens has fully confirmed me in the view that 

 I previously held o£ the specific distinctness of Ploceus 

 megarhynchus and P, baya. 



In July 1899 I exhibited to the Asiatic Society two living 

 specimens of a large Weaver which I had recently obtained 

 for the Indian Museum from our well-known Calcutta dealer 

 in animals, Mr. W. Rutledge, of Entally. To these birds, 

 considering them to represent an undescribed form of Ploceus, 

 I gave the name of Ploceus rutledgii, and briefly diagnosed 

 the species as similar to the male of P. baya in breeding- 

 plumage, but easily distinguishable by the larger size and 

 the entirely yellow under surface {' Proceedings of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal,' July 1899, p. 77). As one of the birds 

 was more stoutly built than the other, and was constantly 

 singing and weaving grass into the wire of the cage, I thought 

 that the two specimens were possibly a pair, the more so as 

 some of the Weavers show very little sexual difl'erence in 

 plumage. As time went on, however, the birds (which, 

 according to Mr. Rutledge's stipulation, I had kept alive) 

 began to change into undress plumage, and in this dress much 

 resembled the corresponding phase of our common Weaver 

 of this district, which, in the British Museum Catalogue, is 

 called P. atrigula. Their colour was, however, darker and 

 more uniform, and closely corresponded with that of 

 Mr. Hume's bird. I had noticed that their great size 

 was a point of resemblance to P. megarhyyichus, and the 



