270 LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUIt, 



breed ; but in the cold weather I never noticed them. — 

 J. K C] 



Besides this we have from Dollah and Sadiya in the Dibrii- 

 garh district specimens of 694^er. — Ploceus megarhynohua, 

 nobis (S. F., VI, 400), but I never met with this in Manipur, 

 nor have I any knowledge of its occurrence elsewhere in 

 Assam, Sylhet, Cachar or British Burmah. 



696. — Ploceus bengalensis, Lin. 



I first met with this in large flocks in the reed grass towards 

 the upper eastern end of the Kopum Thai, and directly 

 I entered the Manipur basin at Bishnoopoor I again found 

 them common. Even in the gardens and small compounds 

 in the suburbs of the capital they were everywhere to be 

 seen in good sized flocks— now clustered for a few minutes on 

 some bamboo spray, now dropping softly in twos and threes 

 into the garden, and now alarmed by something wheeling 

 round and round in small or largish flocks. 



They were common everywhere in the basin, but about 

 Soognoo they were in tens of thousands ; a large extent of 

 grass had been just burnt, and they were feeding in dense 

 parties where the ashes lay thickest. 



The following are particulars of some I measured : — 



On the 13th of February the legs and feet were brownish 

 fleshy pink ; the bill in the Tnale had the upper mandible 

 dusky brown, the lower mandible pale lavender ; in the 

 females, the upper mandible light brown, the lower whitish 

 horny, with a pinky bluish tinge ; irides brown. 



Jerdon does not describe the spring plumage, and I well 

 remember years ago when I first got specimens in February, 

 puzzling vainly over them. 



From the 15th January to the 15th April the adult male has 

 the cap dusky brown, almost blackish towards the forehead, 

 obsoletely streaked with brownish grey, and the nape and 

 extreme upper back this same brownish grey, streaked with the 

 dusky brown of the crown ; the rest of the mantle, tertiaries 

 and secondaries blackish brown ; all the feathers, including 

 tertiaries and secondaries, broadly edged with fulvous buff, 

 often paling much towards the extreme margins j rump 



