126 PLOCEIDJB. 



are some thinly, some thickly, speckled and finely freckled with 

 pale greyish, greenish, or purplish neutral tint. 



The markings, except an occasional black hair-line, are, in at 

 least two thirds of the eggs, so minute that, looked at from a dis- 

 tance of a couple of feet, the eggs appear to be of one uniform 

 grey, some darker, some lighter, some with a sepia tinge, some with 

 a slight brown tinge, some with the faintest possible purple shade, 

 some greenish ; but a grey stone-colour is the prevailing tint of a 

 large body of eggs, amongst which perhaps one in twenty or thirty 

 is pure white with only a few brown specks scattered here and 

 there, and a good many, perhaps one in ten, are a very pale grey, 

 which look white amongst the darker varieties, though when placed 

 beside a white egg they are distinctly grey. 



A certain number of the eggs are distinctly freckled and 

 mottled and spotted when looked into, but these mottlings are 

 very inconspicuous as a rule. Only on about one egg in six or 

 seven, one or at most two black hair-lines of the Bunting type may 

 be traced. 



In shape the eggs appear to be normally somewhat elongated 

 though very regular ovals, but somewhat broader varieties, slightly 

 pointed or compressed towards one end, occur. 



In length the eggs vary from 0*68 to 0'78, and in breadth from 

 0'52 to 0*58 ; but the average is about 0-73 nearly by 0'54. 



Subfamily VIDUIN.E. 



725. Munia malacca (Linn.). The Black-headed Munia. 



Munia malacca (Linn.'), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 352 ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. 8f E. no. G97. 



The Black-headed Muuia breeds throughout Central and Southern 

 India and Ceylon. 



Mr. A. G. R. Theobald writes : " I found the nests near 

 Pothanore, in the Coimbatore District, during the latter half of 

 October. They were placed amongst reeds growing in a small 

 pond ; they were round, with a round hole in one side for an 

 entrance, and were composed of dry reeds and leaves of some 

 flag-leaved grass very like those of the cholum (Sorghum vulgare). 

 The lining was composed of the hair-like filaments from the broom- 

 grass of this country. Seven is, I think, the full complement of 

 eggs ; I never found more in any one nest." 



Dr. Jerdon states that " the nest is usually placed among reeds 

 in tanks or in the beds of rivers ; occasionally in long grass in the 

 bunds of paddy-fields. It is a rather large, nearly round or oval 

 nest, neatly but loosely made of grass, with the hole at one side, 

 this is general being very artfully concealed by the interlacing of 

 the fibres of grass, so that I have been puzzled for a few moments 



