on some Burmese Birds. 461 



197. Saraglossa spiloptera. 



This bird is tolerably abundant on the thickly wooded 

 slopes of the Karen hills^ where it is generally found in small 

 flocks. 



ESTRELDA FLAVIDIVENTRIS. 



Estrelda flavidiventris, Wallace, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 495. 



Estrilda burmanica, Hume, S. F. iv. p. 484, 1876. 



Specimens from Burma are absolutely identical with ex- 

 amples from the islands of Flores and Timor. 1 have com- 

 pared birds shot at various seasons in Burma with a large 

 series of Mr, Wallace^s skins in the British Museum and in 

 the collection of Lord Tweeddale. 



The Yellow-bellied Red Waxbill is very locally distributed 

 in Burma, but, where found, always common. I found it 

 especially so at Yey-tho, near Rangoon, on the Prome road, 

 in some parts of the Pegu plain, and again on the Karen-nee 

 tableland. I have unfortunately no specimens from the latter 

 country; so that I am unable to ^ay to what species they 

 may belong. 



Specimens from Saigon are a little smaller than Indian 

 birds, but otherwise identical. 



212. Carpodacus erythrinus. 



The Rose-Finch is found in flocks in the bamboo jungles 

 that have run to seed. In the month of April 1874 I found 

 them particularly abundant at between 1000 and 2000 feet 

 in the Karen hills. 



213. EuspizA aureola. 



These Buntings are found in vast flocks during the cold- 

 weather months. On the Pegu plain in December 1873 they 

 were spread over the ripe padi-fields in such countless numbers 

 that men or boys had to be kept incessantly on the look-out 

 to scare away the birds that alighted. Each look-out man 

 was posted on a raised platform of bamboo, and was provided 

 with a sling and a basket of stones. I have seen these slings 

 used with great eff'ect, several birds being killed by the dis- 

 charge of a single stone. I saw a boy kill a Heron [Ardea 

 cinerea) with a stone from one of these slings. At the end 



