OF SOME BURMESE BIRDS. 161 



He says : " I found a nest of the Chestnut-bellied 

 Munia in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, on the 27th 

 of July 1874. The nest was fixed, as described by 

 Dr. Jerdon, to the stems of long grass near the top, and 

 was a very conspicuous object easily to be seen a long 

 way off. The bird was on the nest, but the eggs were 

 quite fresh ; and though there were only five, it is quite 

 possible that had I waited more would have been laid." 

 Again he writes : ic On the 13th July (1875) I took a nest 

 with six eggs, and on the 20th August another with 

 five eggs of Munia rubronigra in the Botanical Gardens, 

 Calcutta. This year the birds do not breed in the long 

 grass, probably owing to the fact of there being none to 

 build in — a thorough reform in the garden arrangements 

 having been carried out this year. 



" The two nests were placed, one on a species of prickly 

 date palm, the other. on another species of palm, about 

 six feet high, an Oreodoxa I think. 



" I could easily have secured the bird on the first nest, 

 as she allowed me to approach within a few inches of the 

 entrance, but I was prevented from doing so by the 

 number and size of the terrible needle-like thorns that 

 protected the nest on every side, a perfect forest of 

 bayonets/' Lastly he says : " I went on Monday, the 29th 

 September 1871, to the gardens, and I was rewarded by 

 another nest and 3 eggs of Munia rubronigra. The nest 

 was in a young pine tree forming one of the same avenue 

 (leading to the great Banian) as that from which I took 

 the last batch of 5 eggs. I would not have taken this 

 nest had I known there were only 3 eggs, but as it was 

 placed on the highest fork of the tree, a lad had to get up and 

 bring it down, although the tree was only some 12 feet high." 



Davison writing from Mergui, on the 21st June 1875, 

 remarks : 



u In a dense tangled mass of swamp grass and screw pine, I 

 found, on the 20th June, a nest of the Black-headed Munia. 

 The nest was most ingeniously woven in with the surrounding 

 grass stems, so as to be entirely concealed, and I should cer- 

 tainly not have found it had I not seen the birds (for there 

 were two of them) fly out. 



u The nest is a ball of coarse swamp grass and rush, roughly 

 and loosely woven, measuring about 7 inches in diameter. The 

 entrance, which is at one side, measures 2*5 inches in diameter. 



" Most of the material composing the outer portion of the 

 nest is still green ; the egg cavity is lined with dry grass, which 

 is finer than that on the outside of the nest. 



