84 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



breed. If signs of nesting are apparent, insects or soft 

 food should be supplied ; at other times the ordinary 

 canary and millet seed, etc., will be sufficient. 



Very different from the quarrelsome Weavers are their 

 near relatives, the Munias, thick-billed little Finches of 

 clumsy form, but very sleek and richly-coloured plumage, 

 which is alike in the sexes. They are usually small, but 

 there is one fairly large species ; in disposition they are 

 good-natured and very sociable. 



THE JAVA SPARROW (Munia oryzibara),* although a 

 foreign bird, is well known in India, being called Ramgora 

 in Bengal. Its native home is Java, but it has been 

 introduced into many other parts of the world, accidentally 

 or by intention, and has been wild for half a century in 

 Madras. In the eastern islands where it is most common 

 it is extremely destructive to paddy, whence it is some- 

 times called the rice-bird ; but it is not known to do any 

 harm in India. Very many are imported as cage-birds, 

 and usually come in very fine condition, as they bear 

 captivity well. The bird is figured on Plate VI (Fig. 3), 

 but no uncoloured picture can do justice to the exquisite 

 lavender-grey of its plumage, so sleek that the bird looks 

 as if modelled in wax, while its rose-red beak is as deli- 

 cately shaded as the petal of a flower. The cock and hen 

 are alike as far as plumage goes, but if several are 

 examined there is a good chance of getting a pair if one 

 picks out one specimen with a noticeably big bill and another 

 with a perceptibly smaller one. As they are very cheap, 

 and several pairs will live and breed in the same aviary, 

 it is just as well to buy half-a-dozen at once, if they are 



