SPOKvEGINTHUS. 



147 



738. Sporaegiiithus amandava (Liiui.). The Indian lied 

 Mania. 



Estrelda auiaiidava {Linn.), Jcrd. B. Ind. ii, p. uuU; Hume, Rouyh 

 Draft N. S,- E. no. 704. 



The Iiidiau Ked Muuia breeds pretty well all over the Indian 

 Enii)ire (except iu the Punjab), in sidtable localities. In the bare 

 portions of the jSTorth-West Provinces and Rajpootaiia I have 

 ne\er known it as more than a passing visitor ; but wherever the 

 countr_y is well-watered, and either well-wooded or abounding in 

 high grass — in Meerut and the districts of the Uoab northwards, in 

 many places in Oudb and liohilkund, 8augor, Chauda, Raipoor iu 

 the Central Provinces, in the more fertile portion of Siudb, in all 

 our Dhoons and Terais — I know of its nesting. 



In all these localities it breeds, I believe, twice a year— once 

 from November to Pebruary, and the second time from June 

 to August ; but in the Nilgbiris, which it ascends to an elevation 

 of 6000 feet, the breeding-season seems to last from May to 

 December. In the Himalayas I have never heard of its breeding 

 at elevations exceeding 2000 to 3000 feet. 



All the nests that I have myself found were oblate spheroids, 

 loosely but not untidily built with fine grass, and lined with fine 

 seed-down, the entrance circular and at one side, perhaps l^ inch 

 in diameter. Externally the nests vary in diameter from 5 to 

 7 inches, and in height from 4 to 7 inches. 



One nest of this species sent me from the neighbourhood of 

 8augor was of a deep, clumsy purse-shape, almost egg-shaped ; it 

 had been laid in a fork of a bush sideways, the aperture being at 

 one end ; it was very loosely and raggedly put together with fine 

 tems of grass, and thickly and warmly hned Anth grass-seed down. 

 The cavity was about 4 inches deep and about 2 inches in diameter, 

 and narrow at the mouth. Externally the nest was 5-5 and 4-75 

 inches in diameter and G in length. 



I have invariably found the nest in thick dwarf bushes, very 

 close to the ground, at most at a height of three feet. 



8Lx is, I believe, the full complement of eggs ; but seven and 

 even eight may occasionally be found. 



Mr. P. H. Blewitt says :'—'' The Indian Amadu\at breeds freely 

 in the Eaipoor and Sumbulpoor Districts. The 8th December is the 

 earhest, and the 2oth Pebruary the latest, date on which we have 

 there taken the eggs. AVild plum {Z. nummularia) bushes growing 

 promiscuously in the grass-jungles near to, or on the borders of, the 

 banks of the many large and small streams intersecting the open 

 forest country are preferentially selected for nesting. Occasionally 

 an old nest, well concealed in "the interior of the bush, has been 

 discovered on a plain distant from water. 



" The nest, for better concealment and protection, is generally 

 constructed about the centre of the bush, from a foot to three feet 

 from the ground. Only on one occasion, when stalking Cheetul on 



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