2io FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



took to be a real bond fide attempt to bring up a single family, I 

 counted with my finger six eggs ; but I cannot remember an}' other 

 trustworthy case in which there were so many eggs belonging to one 

 pair. 



" I believe they frequently use their own and each other's old 

 nests. Jerdon does not mention that they employ their old nests to 

 sleep in. I have driven a whole flock out of one after dusk." 



Colonel Butler makes the following remark : " I have seen 

 numerous instances in the neighbourhood of Bel gaum, of nests built 

 in the stick-nests of Neophron ginginianus and Aqui/a vindhiana, similar 

 to the instance mentioned in the Rough Draft of Nest and Eggs, p. 

 453. In fact this appears to be one of the favourite sites selected. 



" This Munia breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa, most plenti- 

 fully, I believe, during the rains ; but I have taken nests in almost 

 every mouth of the year. I have seen as many as fifteen eggs in one 

 nest, and numbers varying from nine to twelve are common. On the 

 28th September, 1876, I found a nest containing fourteen eggs, of 

 which seven were much incubated, two slightly so, and five quite fresh. 

 Only one pair of birds appeared to be in possession of the nest." 



Mr. G. Vidal, writing of this Munia in the S. Konkan, says : 

 " Scarce. I found a nest on the 28th January, 1879, i n hill-side jungle 

 in a be"r (Zizyphus jujubaj tree. The nest, a round globe, was made 

 externally of very dirty coarse grass, with a very small opening at the 

 top on one side. The nest inside was also shabby, but the lining was 

 of finer grass, and for ornament there were a few Green Paroquet's 

 feathers. Two old birds were sitting on four eggs. I got one bird, 

 and while I was waiting for the other to return, a lizard got into the 

 nest, and within five minutes succeeded in destroying three of the eggs, 

 breaking two and making away with a third." In the Deccau, according 

 to Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, this species is " very common, and 

 breeds at all seasons." 



" In Ceylon this species breeds from December to March. The 

 eggs are pure white, spotless, and devoid of gloss ; typically rather 

 broad and perfect ovals." 



As will be seen from the foregoing observations, on the nesting 

 habits of A. malabarica, Indian naturalists have taken more pains to 

 study the life of this one common dull-coloured little Grass-finch, than 

 they have in the case of any other species, excepting, perhaps, the 

 Baya Weaver. The only explanation seems to be, that widely distributed 

 and abundant species, which build conspicuous nests in every imaginable 

 position, are more easily studied than others. They come under the 



