522 Lieut. H. R. Kelham on 



ean form no idea what they can be for. The theory mentiond, 

 though not believed in^ by Jerdon, that the birds stick fire- 

 flies on these lumps of mud, so as to light up the inside of the 

 nest by night, is palpably far-fetched ; I never saw, or even 

 heard of, the remains of fire-flies being found in the nests. 

 In my book is the following note : — 



" Kwala Kangsar, Perak, 6th March, 1877. While snipe- 

 shooting, I found two curious nests hanging from a tree, at 

 a height of about ten feet from the ground ; they were within 

 a few inches of one another, in shape like two gigantic pears, 

 but with different entrances, the smaller being open below 

 like an inverted basket, complete even to the handle, and 

 made of fresh, green grass, while the other, of dry brown 

 material, though also entered from below, had a long funnel 

 leading to a chamber, in which were four young featherless 

 birds and an addled egg, the latter about the size of a Linnet's, 

 and white in colour. The tree on which the nests hung was 

 alive with red ants, which most fiercely resented being dis- 

 turbed. '^ 



During June I saw a large flock of Weaverbirds on some 

 paddy-ground near Kwala Kangsar. They were flitting about, 

 pecking at the grass-seeds, and continually twittering, as one 

 sees Goldfinches doing among the thistles. The heads of the 

 males were golden yellow. 



A young male which I shot on 16th May, while in the act 

 of weaving grass into its nest, was 5 inches in length, irides 

 dark brown, legs flesh-colour, tarsus ^q inch, upper parts 

 dull brown, the feathers margined with pale yellowish brown, 

 top of head golden yellow, underparts dull white, throat and 

 face blackish, breast and flanks rufous. The males have the 

 head bright yellow during the breeding-season only ; at other 

 times both sexes have brown heads. 



MuNiA MAJA (Linn.) . 



This little white-headed Munia is very common through- 

 out the west of the peninsula, including the islands of Penang 

 and Singapore. When the grain is ripe it is to be seen in 

 countless numbers in the paddy-fields. On being disturbed 



