84 GARDEN AND AVIAKY BIRDS. 



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 Ram- 

 gora 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 sometimes 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 delicately 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 

 wanted for aviary purposes. For cages the sex does not 

 matter, as both are equally pretty 



