UBOLONCHA. 131 



ferentially they select very swampy land. The nest is a loose 

 mass of grass, spherical, cylindrical, or heart-shaped. The inside 

 is lined with finer grass, the following ends being brought forward 

 to the entrance, which is small and difficult to find. The eggs are 

 \Aithout gloss, pure white. They measure from 0-54 to 0'69 in 

 length, and from 0*41 to 0'48 in breadth, the average of sixteen 

 eggs being 0"61 by 0"45." 



A nest which I took on the loth August was a large glo- 

 bular structure, about 8 inches long, 6^ high, 5 broad, the lower 

 surface flat or nearly so, the upper domed, and with a large oval 

 aperture, some 2| inches high and Ig broad, at one end. The nest 

 was composed entirely of grass, rather sohdly put together, and 

 had no lining. On the external surface some coarse blades and 

 pieces of flower-stems, \\ith the fluffy seeds attached, had been 

 used, but the greater portion of the nest consisted entirely of 

 moderately fine grass-stems. The chamber was about 5| inches 

 long, nearly 2| inches wide throughout, and nearly '3^ high in its 

 highest central portion. 



The eggs are very regular elongated ovals, pure white and gloss- 

 less, and only vary from 0-58 to 0-68 inch in length, and from 0*4 

 to 0-47 in breadth. 



79'-. 



Urolonclia acnticauda (Hodgs.). Hochjsons Munia. 



Munia acuticauda, Hodgs., Jird. B. Ind, n, p. 3-56 ; Hume, Rojtyh 

 Draft N. ^- E. no. 702. 



This species, which we may term Hodgson's Munia, the trivial 

 name applied to it by Dr. Jerdon — the Himalayan Munia — being 

 singularly inappropriate, breeds within our limits throughout the 

 Himalayas east of the Ganges, at all elevations up to 5000 feet, 

 throughout Assam, Cachar, Tipperah, Eastern Burma, and Tenas- 

 serim, in all well-wooded, undulating, or hilly localities. 



8peaking of this species, il/. atricapilla, and U. punctidata, Mr. 

 Hodgson remarks that " these species are solitary in regard to 

 nidification, but after the breeding-season they are all gregarious 

 in a greater or less degree. They are exclusively graminivorous, 

 feeding on hard grass-seeds or ceralia, according as one or the 

 other are procurable ; and they fix their large globular nests either 

 among the spiny leaves of the palm trees or the thick interlaced 

 branches of the lesser bamboos, but there is no weaving or sewhig 

 employed in the structure of the nest : it is merely a large ball laid 

 against or upon naturally-blended branches of stiff leaves, aud 

 having a small round entrance either on the side or at top. The 

 eggs are many, and in M. atricapiUa are of a bluish-white colour. 

 These birds are easily tamed and caged, but they have no song. 



" The whole species are migratory, appearing in June and 

 departing in JN'ovember. Many of them breed in my grounds, and 

 are solitary so far as I have observed. The nest is composed of 

 grass, fibres, or leaves of Piuus lonrjifoUa, and is usually con- 

 structed in the midst of clumps of small bamboo or of the dog- 



0* 



