140 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Females : Upper plumage, lesser wing coverts, and lower 

 tail coverts brownish-blue with brighter edges ; tail brown, 

 the central feathers and outer webs of the others, except the 

 outermost pair, the same blue as the back ; wing coverts and 

 quills dark brown, the greater coverts and innermost quills 

 tinged with blue on the outer webs ; sides of head and lower 

 plumage brownish-blue. 



Immature birds resemble females, the change into adult 

 male plumage is gradual. 



Bill, !egs, and feet black, iris crimson. 



Length 10*5 ; wing 5 ; tail 4 ; tarsus • 80 ; bill from gape 1 • 15. 



Distribution. — ^Very rare and probably a casual visitor. 

 It has been obtained near Kandy and in the Ratnapura 

 District. In India it occurs on the Malabar Coast, on the 

 lower slopes of the Eastern Himalayas, the Assam hills, 

 Burma, the Andamans, and Nicobars. 



Habits. — May be looked for in tall forest. It feeds entirely 

 on fruit, and is generally found in small parties or pairs on 

 the top of the higher trees. In India the breeding season is 

 from February to April. The nest is a shallow cup of moss 

 or twigs placed in a sapling or small tree. Two eggs are laid. 

 The colour is pale green, streaked and blotched with pale, dull 

 or reddish-brown. Average size (of Indian eggs) 1 • 14 by ' 77. 



Family Ploceidse. 

 Weave?- Birds and Munias. 



With the Ploceidse we come to the first of two families 

 in which the bill is strong and conical, while the nostrils are 

 pierced within, or only just outside the line of the forehead, 

 and lie closer to the ridge than to the cutting edge of the bill. 

 There is never more than the trace of a notch in the upper 

 mandible. The primaries are ten in number, but the first 

 is quite small. Africa is the strong -hold of the fa mil j^ but 

 it is also well represented in South-Eastern Asia and Australia. 

 There are two sub-family groups. 



(a) Ploceinsa, or Weaver Birds, in which the first primary, 

 though small, is quite easily seen, and which have a partial 

 spring moult as weU as the usual moult in autumn. 



(6) Viduinas, or Mum'as,in which the first primary is exceed- 

 ingly small, and which have no spring moult, 



