264 ESTRELDINJE. 



Bill plumbeous ; irides deep-brown ; legs livid-carneous. 



Upper plumage pale earthy -brown, slightly rufescent on the 

 head, and darker towards the forehead ; wings and tail blackish ; 

 the tertiaries slightly bordered with whitish at their truncated 

 tips ; upper tail-coverts white, edged with black externally ; 

 cheeks and lower parts white, tinged with pale earthy-brown on 

 the flanks, which sometimes have some faint cross rays. 



The central tail-feathers are much elongated, being three-quarters 

 of an inch longer than the out e -most pair. 



The Plain Brown Munia is very common throughout the 

 district. It is a permanent resident, and seems to breed the whole 

 year through. The nest is a rather large, loosely constructed 

 sphere, made of grass, lined with fine grass stems. The eggs, 

 from four to ten in number, are rather broad ovals, and are of 

 the usual dead, glossless, white color. They measure 0'6 by about 

 0;47 inches. 



GENUS, Estrelda, Swainson. 



Bill much more slender than Amadina ; the culmen less 

 arched and flattened at the base, more compressed throughout, 

 deep red in color ; tail soft and graduated ; feet moderate. Of 

 still smaller size, and more delicate conformation. 



Estrelda amandava, Lin. 



704. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 359 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 496 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 416 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 182 ; Swin- 

 hoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 129. 



THE RED WAXBILL. 

 Lai, Hin. 



Length, 4 to 4'25 ; expanse, 575 ; wing, T8 ; tail, 15 ; tarsus, 

 0-5 ; bill at front, 0'28. 



Bill deep red, culmen blackish ; irides crimson ; legs fleshy. 



The male, in full summer plumage, is more or less crimson, 

 darkest on the throat, breast, supercilia, cheeks, and upper tail- 

 coverts ; tail black, the outer feathers more or less white tipped ; 

 wings brown ; a range of minute white feathers beneath the 

 eye, and the wings, flanks and sides of breast with numerous 

 round white spots, and a few smaller specks on the back ; abdo- 

 minal region infuscated ; lower tail-coverts black. 



The female is olive-brown above, with the lores blackish, 

 bounded by a whitish semi-circle below the eye ; a few white 

 specks occasionally on the back ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 tinged with crimson ; beneath paler brown, the abdomen 

 strongly tinged with fulvous-yellow ; the lower tail-coverts dull 

 white. 



After breeding the males assume, by moulting, a plumage 

 similar to that of the female. 



