88 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
by the Japanese is commonly for sale both in England 
and at Calcutta. 
These tame birds, rather absurdly called Bengalees in 
England, fall into three varieties. The commonest show 
the dark-brown plumage of the wild bird more or less 
pied with white, some being nearly all white, and some 
only having a few white feathers, while a great many 
are half-and-half, the marking being always irregular. 
Then there is a cinnamon variety, which is more or 
less pied with white, like the last, but has the coloured 
parts cinnamon instead of dark brown. Some- 
times a cinnamon bird with no pure white is found, but 
rarely. 
Last and rarest, and much the prettiest, are the pure 
white birds, with flesh-coloured bills and feet. The beaks 
and feet of the cinnamon birds are also flesh-coloured, 
as are those of the dark-pied birds if the white greatly 
predominates. 
Of course all these varieties, being cage-bred, will 
reproduce freely in captivity, and it would be worth 
while taking a little trouble to get a good strain of 
pure white ones. A pair will breed even in a cage, and 
the love-dance and song of the male will be found 
amusing, for he can succeed in getting out a few notes. 
Canary and millet will do for them at ordinary times, 
but when breeding they will need some egg-food. Any 
hollow receptacle will serve as a place in which they 
may nest. 
Although known to our dealers asthe Japan Munia, the / 
Striated Munia is in its original state an Indian, bird, 
