2o6 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



may be killed at a shot: they do not take long flights, but merely 

 from bush to bush. I observed numbers of them in the leafless caper, 

 on the banks of the river Bheema. It breeds, I conclude, twice in the 

 year, as I have found its nest in the months of November and March. 

 The nest in two instances was formed of the flower-stems of the silk- 

 grass, which is abundant in the beds of streams, and lined with feathers 

 and the silky seeds of the grass. The largest number of eggs I have 

 found was six." 



W. Theobald, junr., however, informs us that "Two pairs of this 

 bird are frequently, if not iisually, employed in the construction of one 

 nest, and in which the two hens consecutively lay ; so the same nest 

 has sometimes twenty-five eggs in it, in different stages of incubation. 

 Nest often clumsily and hastily made, but usually a neat domed structure 

 of fine grass, with one opening, sometimes prolonged into a short 

 deflected neck, partially closed by the elasticity of the spikes of grass 

 forming it ; sometimes the nest is a simple platform qf grass, open at 

 one end, but the grass ends curved over to meet at the top ; usually 

 placed in thorny bushes, often very conspicuous and close to roads. It 

 is much to be doubted if the eggs found occasionally in October and 

 December are hatched." 



Jerdon observes : "This little Finch is found all over the Peninsula, 

 frequenting hedges, low trees in cultivated ground, and low bushes on 

 the open plains, or by a river-side. It frequently enters gardens, and 

 feeds on various kinds of seeds." 



In his Birds of India, Jerdon gives but little additional infor- 

 mation ; he says : " This plain coloured Munia is found throughout 

 India, not entering the hills, nor extending to the countries towards 

 the east, but very abundant in Sindh and the Punjaub. It also occurs 

 in Ceylon. It frequents bushy jungles, hedgerows, thickets near culti- 

 vation, and groves of trees, often entering gardens, and is to be met 

 with in the south and in Central India, near every village ; it is more 

 rare in Malabar and other well-wooded districts, and generally so, indeed, 

 in forest country. Like all the others, it associates in small flocks, and 

 feeds on grass-seeds and grains." 



Gates says : " The White-throated Munia, like the spotted one, 

 breeds pretty well all over India, but the present species affects the 

 most arid tracts, the latter the well-wooded and watered ones. I know 

 of no month in which, in one place or another, its eggs may not be 

 found. I have taken them myself in January, February, March, and 

 April, and again in July, August, and September. Mr. Theobald 

 obtained them also in May, October, and November. They have 



