THE AMADAVATS AND THE MU 



with. It is the utterest simpleton of a not-talented 

 family. Its nest is constructed, after the Munia 

 fashion, of fine grass, in a globular form, and should 

 contain, I believe, about half a dozen pure white 

 eggs. But the Brown Munia is " promiscuous " in 

 family matters. It will lay eggs in a neighbour's 

 nest instead of its own, or because it has none of its 

 own, and its neighbour will never be so unneigh- 

 bourly as to object. Sometimes two or more families 

 will chum together, and others will use the nest as 

 a dormitory, leaving an egg, perhaps, as payment. 

 So it happens that any number of eggs may be found 

 in a Brown Munia's nest, some fresh, some "cook- 

 ing," and some beyond even that. Theobald found 

 twenty-five eggs in one nest. In an aviary, if you 

 provide little nest-boxes, these birds will behave in 

 the same happy-go-lucky way. I do not understand 

 how they succeed in keeping their place in the 

 world and escaping extermination, but they are 

 making nests and laying plentiful eggs all the year 

 round, so I suppose that the doctrine of chances 

 secures a certain percentage of offspring. The Brown 

 Munia differs from the other species in having a 

 pointed tail and not holding it up. It is a light- 

 coloured bird, pale-brown when fresh caught, but 

 inclining to French-grey if kept out of the sun. 

 Its tail is black, and its breast and underparts are 

 almost white. 



I once saw a professional bird-catcher on Malabar 

 Hill trapping Munias. Nothing is easier. I have 

 trapped a good many myself. If you put out a cage 

 with a few birds in it, every passer-by of the same 

 species will come down to inquire after their health, 



