Malayan Ornithology. 523 



it rises with a feeble, twittering cry, the flocks whirling and 

 twirling over the top of the paddy like clouds of dust on a 

 road when the wind is blowing. It is commonly known in 

 the Straits as the " cigar bird " — a capital name ; for, when 

 flying, its white head, brown body, and small size give it 

 very much the appearance of a cigar with the white ash on it. 



Muni A atricapilla, Vieill. 



Common, though not so much so as M. maja. Like that 

 species, it congregates in large flocks. My note-book says : — 



" Saiyong, Perak, 23rd May, 1877. To-day, on the low 

 ground bordering Saiyong Jheel, I shot several Munias out 

 of a large flock which rose from the paddy. They are very 

 like M. maja, except that they have the head black instead 

 of white. 



'' One of these, a male, is 4^^ inches in length, irides red- 

 brown, beak plumbeous, head, neck, and upper part of breast 

 black, upper tail-coverts golden-chestnut, rest of plumage 

 chestnut, becoming dusky on the tail ; its stomach contained 

 a great many minute particles of quartz.''^ 



At first I thought this bird was Munia ruhronigra, Hodgs., 

 which it much resembles ; but that species has the middle of 

 the belly, the vent, and the under tail-coverts black instead 

 of chestnut. 



Munia acuticauda, Hodgs. 



By no means rare during the winter months, or more 

 correctly during the N.E. monsoon : it keeps in small flocks 

 and frequents scrubby ground, not breeding till late in May. 



Near Tanglin, Singapore, on 29th July, I found a nest of 

 this Munia, a large, oval mass of bents, built in the crown of 

 a beetle-nut palm; and the young birds, eight or ten in 

 number, though perfectly able to fly away, were flitting 

 about it ; so I shot four, in a variety of stages of plumage. 

 The one most decidedly marked was a male : its wings and 

 upper parts were dull brown, becoming whitish on the cheeks 

 and chin, feathers of the back and scapulars pale-shafted, 

 those of the breast, flanks, and upper tail-coverts very prettily 

 marked with alternate crescents of white and brown, abdo- 

 men dull white, irides chocolate. 



