PLOCEELLA. 179 



723. Ploceus manyar. The Striated Weaver-bird. 



Fringilla manyar, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 160 (1820). 

 Ploceus manyar (Horsf.), Blyth, Cat. p. 115 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. ii, 

 p. 514 ; Jerd. B. /.'ii, p. 348; Hume, N. $ E. p. 440 ; Anders. 

 Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 598 ; Legye, Birds CeyJ. p. 646 ; Hume, 

 Cat. no. 695 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 360 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 

 p. 260 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 496 ; Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 

 2nd ed. ii, p. 121. 



Bamani bay a, Hind, in the Deccan ; Telia bay a, Beng. ; Bawoyi in 

 Rungpore. 



Coloration. Male. After the autumn inoult the forehead and 

 crown are yellow ; throat, cheeks, ear-coverts and sides of neck 

 black or brownish black; lower plumage fulvous, each feather 

 striated with black down the centre, except on the abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts ; upper plumage dark brown edged with pale 

 fulvous ; wings and tail brown edged with yellowish ; the throat is 

 sometimes coloured a pale brown, and the intensity of the fulvous 

 on the lower parts varies much. 



After the partial spring moult the forehead, crown, and nape 

 become deep yellow ; the supercilium and the spot behind the ear- 

 coverts disappear, and the whole of the sides of the head and neck 

 together with the cheeks, chin, and throat become blackish brown 



Female. Resembles the male in winter plumage. 



The male in summer has the bill bluish black, paler at gape ; 

 the female in summer and both sexes in winter have the bill yellow- 

 ish horn-colour ; the iris is at all times brown, legs flesh-colour, and 

 claws pinkish horn. 



Length nearly 6 ; tail 1-8; wing 2-7; tarsus -8; bill from 

 gape -7- 



Distribution. The whole Empire from the foot of the Himalayas 

 southward to Ceylon on the one hand, and to about the latitude 

 of: Moulmein in Tenasserim on the other. This species also occurs 

 in Java. 



Habits, $c. Breeds throughout the rains, attaching its nest, which 

 resembles that of P. bay a, but has a shorter funnel, to the extremities 

 of several leaves of elephant-grass. The eggs measure about *8 

 by -58. 



Genus PLOCEELLA, Oates, 1873. 



The genus Ploceella differs from Ploceus in many important par- 

 ticulars. The bill is much shorter, being no longer than it is high ; 

 the nape is furnished with a few short hairs, and the tail is much 

 longer and more rounded. The plumage of the male in summer 

 is largely yellow. The nest differs much from that of a Ploceus, 

 being supported at the sides by reeds and not suspended from their 

 tips ; it has no tubular entrance, and the exterior surface of the 

 nest is of quite a different appearance, being rough and coarse 



N2 



