PLOCEUS. 



2| inches in length. Two nests each contained three eggs, one 

 clutch being fresh and the other well incubated ; another nest had 

 one egg. 



" As regards material and the way it is woven, the nests are 

 similar to those of P. bay a, nor can I perceive any difference in 

 size, colour, or shape of the eggs unless it is that those of P. ben- 

 r/alensis are slightly more pointed at the smaller end." 



The eggs are similar to those of the other allied Weaver-birds, 

 and measure from 0*79 to O85 in length by 0'55 to 0*6 in breadth. 



723. Plocens manyar (Horsf.). The Striated Weaver-bird. 



Ploceus manyar (Sorsf\ Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 348 ; Hume, Hough 

 Ih-aft N. $ E. no. 695. 



The Striated Weaver-bird, which Dr. Jerdon says does not occur 

 in the North-West Provinces, is pretty common in suitable locali- 

 ties throughout the Indian Empire, except perhaps in the southern 

 portion of the Indian Peninsula. It is, however, only where large 

 pieces of water, or rivers whose banks are fringed with reed and 

 rush, occur that it breeds. There are places in the Etawah and 

 Mynpooree Districts, and again in Sindh, arid as these localities 

 as a whole are, where nevertheless, finding suitable rushy, reedy 

 cover, it breeds in great numbers. In one dhand in Upper Sindh 

 I found nearly one hundred old nests in a small bulrush island not 

 20 yards in diameter. 



They lay throughout Upper India in August and September. 

 The nests much resemble those of P. baya. 



They are formed of the same materials and woven in the same 

 manner, but the upper or body portions are more massive and 

 clumsier, and the tubes are shorter. The points of some forty or 

 fifty narrow bulrush-leaves are commonly gathered together and 

 incorporated into the upper portion of the nest to form a point of 

 suspension. The true nest, exclusive of the tubular or entrance-pas- 

 sage, averages about 7| inches in length externally, with a diameter 

 of 5 inches one way by 4 inches the other. The tube is from 2 to 4 

 inches in length and about 2| inches external diameter. The upper 

 portion of the nest may be about 1J inch thick, but the sides ave- 

 rage about half an inch, and the entrance-passage is scarcely one 

 fourth of an inch thick. What gives the nest a clumsy appearance 

 is that the upper end of the nest terminates squarely instead of 

 tapering more or less to a point, as is almost always the case in 

 those of P. baya : but then the nests of these latter are hung from 

 one point of support, and not, as in this species, from a whole 

 clump or cluster of supports. In outline, seen from one point of 

 view, these nests are like a very short-handled meat-chopper, the 

 tubular entrance standing for the handle. 



They lay usually two or three eggs, quite as often three as two ; 

 but I myself have never taken more. 



From Etawah Mr. Brooks writes:" On the 28th August, ] 869, 



