690 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIKDS. 



dozen of its globular nests may be found within a radius of a few meters. 



The nests are frequently built among the branches of a common species 

 of pandanus which grows on sandy beaches. Chestnut weavers in great 

 numbers, and Munia cabanisi, Padda oryzivora, and Uroloncha evcretti 

 in lesser numbers, are captured in nets and sold, either in the Manila 

 markets for food or on the streets as cage-birds. 



"This chestnut weaver finch feeds in large flocks and is much prized 

 by some of the inhabitants as an article of food, its small size being com- 

 pensated for by the fact that a score can be killed at one discharge of a 

 gun. It seems to breed throughout the year; its bulky nest is placed in 

 the grass, and is composed entirely of grass stems and leaves ; the entrance 

 is a round opening at the side. The eggs are pure white and more or less 

 globular; from six to ten eggs are deposited in a set." (Bourns and 

 Worcester MS.) 



702. MUNIA FORMOSANA Swinhoe. 



FORM08AN WEAVES. 



Munia formosana SWINHOE, Ibis (1865), 366; SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus. (1890), 13, 338; GRANT, Ibis (1895), 112; WHITEHEAD, 1 1. is 

 (1899), 242; MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 105. 



Luzon (Whitehead). Formosa. 



Adult. This species is very similar to M. jagori from which it may 

 be distinguished by its smoky brown head and neck; fore part of crown 

 and sides of face blacker. The measurements of the type as given by 

 Sharpe and changed to millimeters are: Length, 96.5; culmen, 11.4; 

 wing, 48; tail, 35.5; tarsus, 15. 



"Munia formosana Swinhoe, of which a specimen was recorded from 

 Isabela, north Luzon, appears to be a distinct pale-colored form, the head, 

 even in freshly-molted male examples, being of a dark smoky brown. In 

 addition to the specimens recorded in the Catalogue of Birds, I have 

 examined a number of Formosan examples of this species in the Seebohm 

 collection." Grant, Ibis (1896), 554. 



703. MUNIA CABANISI Sharpe. 

 CABANIS'S WEAVEB. 



Oxycerca jagori (not Munia jagori Martens) CABANIS, Jour, fur Orn. 



(1872), 317. 

 Munia cabanisi SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 353 (new name) ; 



WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1899), 242; MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List 



(1906), 105. 



Luzon (Meyer, Heriot, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, 

 McGregor, Bartsch) ; Mindoro (Porter)-, Panay (Bourns d Worcester). 



Adult (sexes alike). Upper parts, including secondary-coverts and 

 tertials, dark hair-brown with whitish shaft-lines; tail-coverts and rec- 

 trices light yellowish green; lores dusky; face and ear-coverts brown 

 with light shaft-lines; chin and middle of throat vandvke-brown with 



