250 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



every kind of trouble is taken to drive them away. In neighbour- 

 hoods which suffer specially from these feathered thieves, one, or if 

 the field is large, several little watch-houses are erected in the middle 

 of the field, resting on four high bamboo stalks, whence numerous 

 threads run in all directions to thin bamboo sticks, set up at certain 

 distances from one another, through the whole field : to these threads 

 are hung large dry leaves, gay rags, dolls, wooden clappers and such 

 like things. Now when the person sitting in the little watch-house, 

 like a spider in a. web, pulls the threads, at the same moment all the 

 dry leaves rustle, the dolls shake, the clappers sound and the unbidden 

 guests fly away frightened. Also, after the harvest, the birds find 

 their table well spread in the rice-fields lying fallow to the commence- 

 ment of the rainy season, that is till towards the beginning of November, 

 as numerous acres not only lie fallow, but also all kinds of weeds 

 spring up among the stubble, in an incredibly short space of time, 

 whose seeds quickly ripening afford them a welcome nourishment. At 

 this time they are fairly plump, and well nourished and offer, especially 

 the young ones, a favourite dish, on which account they are snared in 

 large numbers. 



" I have several times found the nest of Munia oryzivora : some- 

 times at the summit of various trees, sometimes among the numerous 

 creepers which cover the stems of the areng palms. They vary in 

 size and form, according to their position : whilst those attached to 

 trees, are for the most part, larger and possess, on the average, a 

 fairly regularly half ball shaped form, those placed among creepers on 

 the stems of areng palms are smaller and of a less decided, irregular 

 form, only slightly hollowed out in the centre. All nests, however, 

 are almost exclusively composed of the stalks of various grasses, which 

 are not very firmly twined together, so that the whole build is of no 

 great solidity. The number of the shining white, somewhat long- 

 shaped eggs, varies between six and eight in the nests found by me. 

 Their diameter lengthwise amounts to 21 mill., their greatest diameter 

 through the middle 14 millim." 



Mr. Allan Hume says : " This species, the well-known Java 

 Sparrow, a native of that island, but now naturalized in Mauritius, 

 Ceylon and other places, has naturalized itself also in the neighbour- 

 hood of Madras, whence I have had many specimens, killed wild, as 

 well as the eggs sent to me by my friend the late Captain Mitchell. 

 He found a nest near Madras, in August, containing five eggs. It 

 was placed like a Munia' s in a thorny bush 7 or 8 feet from the 

 ground. The nest was globular and very large, chiefly composed of 



