CHAPTER IX. 



THE MAtfNlKlN FAMILY 



(Munitdce). 



The Bengali The Nutmeg Bird The White-headed 

 Nun The Black-headed Nun The Three-coloured 

 Nun The Silverbill The Bronze-winged Man- 

 nikin The Bar-breasted Mannikin The Chestnut' 



bellied Mannikin The Topela Mannikin. 

 } 

 ANNIKINS form a numerous group, of 



which the limits of the present work 

 will only permit of my passing in review 

 the principal species, and I propose com- 

 mencing with the sub-group of Mannikins proper, 

 which are distinguished by the curious habit of singing 

 in dumb show; that is to say, the bird will go through 

 all the motions of a songster in full swing, and yet 

 to the ordinary spectator not a sound, will be audible. 

 THE BENGALI, or BENGALESE, Munia acuticauda, 

 occurs in three principal varieties namely, the white, 

 the white and fawn, and the white and brown. These 

 little birds, especially the first of them (which is illus- 

 trated at Fig. 8), are essentially birds for the cage, 

 in which they breed as freely as canaries, and with 



