86 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
Java Sparrows are not aggressive birds, but they should 
never be shut up closely with weaker ones, as they 
are given to foot-biting, especially the white ones, 
which are more vicious and bigger than the grey birds. 
With such birds as Weavers and Budgerigars they will 
do very well. The cock Java has a rather pretty bubbling 
song, but the notes of the two varieties are not quite 
the same. Their ordinary voice is a liquid chirp, very 
pleasant to hear, and, altogether, if it could be so 
arranged, they would be very nice substitutes, as town 
birds, for that scoundrel Philip Sparrow. I found them 
established as citizens in Zanzibar ten years ago, and 
tried to start them in Calcutta, but they always flew 
straight away, when turned out. However, I have seen 
a few in the Museum compound, so perhaps they linger 
somewhere. 
The Java Sparrow is nearly as big as the common House- 
Sparrow, but most of the Munias are only about half 
this size. They are very commonly kept, but it must be 
confessed they are desperately uninteresting little birds, 
and I do not advise any one to begin with them, al- 
though they are rather pretty and very cheap. One of 
the commonest, and one particularly suitable for notice 
here, as it often comes into gardens, is :— 
Tue Nutmec-Birp (Uroloncha punctulata), so called by 
English dealers, who also know it as the Spice-bird; by 
natives itis called the Tilia Mumia or Spotted Munia. 
This is figured on Plate II, where Fig. 3 will give a general 
idea of it. Both cock and hen are alike, but the young are / 
absolutely different, being plain light brown throughout. 
