STICTOSPIZA. 145 



eggs, of course, are pure fleshy white, usually four to six iu 

 number. At Thayetmyo 1 found it building in a hole in the 

 thatch of my bungalow." 



Mr. Holdsworth tells us : " I have seen many nests at Orissa 

 and near Colombo, and have often watched the bird biting off the 

 grass-stems and taking them to the nest, which has been generally 

 a large structure, sometimes placed near the end of a branch, but 

 more commonly in a thick bush." 



Colonel E. A. Butler writes: "I found the Spotted Muuia 

 breeding at Mount Aboo in September 1875. 



" A pair were building at the top of a palm tree, about 30 or 

 40 feet from the ground, on the 23rd instant ; and 1 found 

 another nest on the 28th instant, the eggs of which had, how- 

 ever, unfortunately been destroyed (probably by rats, as portions 

 of the shell remained at the bottom of the nest)." 



Writing from the plains of Pegu, Mr. Eugene Gates says : 

 "This species builds generally in July and August, but a few 

 nests are to be found throughout the year. It is common all 

 along the Irrawaddy valley, and nests chiefly in thorny bushes, 

 almost always within reach of the hand." 



The eggs of this species, and I have a vast series from different 

 parts of the country, are typically elongated ovals, more or less 

 pointed towards the small end ; and although single eggs might be 

 picked out to correspond, when a large series of the eggs of this 

 bird and U. malabarica are compared, the more elongated character 

 of the former is very marked. They are, when fresh, before 

 blowing, a delicate pinky white, the shells, as in the case of so 

 many pure white eggs, being partially translucent ; when emptied 

 of their contents the shells are like little balls of snow, pure, dead, 

 spotless and glossless white, occasionally, as is the case always 

 with similar eggs, more or less discoloured if incubation has been 

 at all prolonged. 



They vary in length from 0*59 to 0'75, and in width from 0'44 

 to 0-52; but the average of fifty eggs is 0-65 nearly by 0-46. 



737. Stictospiza formosa (Lath.). The Green Munia. 



Estrelda formosa (Lath.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 361 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. Sf E. no. 705. 



The Green Munia is common enough in many parts of the 

 Central Provinces, but I only know of its nesting in the wilder 

 eastern districts of these. 



In the Kaipoor District it breeds, I believe, from October to the 

 middle of January, and probably again in the early part of the 

 rains in sugarcane-fields, or perhaps amongst the dense jungle- 

 grass that fringes in most localities the banks of streams and 

 rivers. 



Mr. F. B. Blewitt writes : " For years have I tried to secure 

 the eggs of S. formosa, but without success. When at Saugor, in 

 the month of May, in a sugarcane-field, a favourite resort of this 



VOL. n. 10 



