552 Birds of Celebes: Ploceidae. 



lead-grey (Platen h 6). Wing 49 mm; tail 35; tarsus 14; bill from nostril 8 fad. 



Siao, 24. VI. 93: Nat. Cell. — C 12625). 

 Sexes. Similar in coloration. 

 Young. Without the black head and throat of the adult; head above brown, darker than 



the back; sides of head and throat with dusky scale-bai-s; under-parts generally 



isabella- colour, with obscui'e U-shaped bars (Banka Id., 20. Y. 94: Nat. Coll. — 



C 12145). 

 Eggs. "Unifonn white, measuring 14 X 11-5 mm" (Nehrkorn MS.), or 14 X 10 (Temate — 



Pleske b 3). 



The typical M. molucca may be termed a more intensely coloured, and M. mo- 

 lucca propinqua a less intensely coloured form of the same bird. The small series 

 in the Dresden Museum confirms Mr. Bilttikofer's view that the birds of this 

 species found in the Celebes area stand closer to the typical race than to that of 

 the Lesser Sunda Islands. 



As in other cases, it is not likely that the above formulae will be accepted 

 without criticism, but we are not responsible for commencing the "splitting"; 

 once begun, it is impossible to draw a boundary to stop at, and the use of 

 signs is certainly better than names which may have no end. Philosophically 

 viewed no two individuals are exactly alike, and it is not likely that the inha- 

 bitants of any two localities, when no communication between them is possible, 

 are racially exactly alike either. In the face of such considerations the unrea- 

 soning use of trinomials is an utter failure. Mr. Hartert (p2) in expressing his 

 approval of Dr. Sharpe's denomination of the Lesser Sunda (properly the Flores) 

 bird as propinqua — and Sharpe should knoAv well what is most practical — 

 remarks that "systematic work is scientific only if it is exact; if not it is either 

 useless, or doing harm instead of good". The worst of it is, zoological nomen- 

 clature never is exact, nor can be; the name belongs to the type of the species 

 only, and it is extended to other individuals "by courtesy", as one might say 

 — because they can be conveniently grouped with the type by reason of their 

 similarity or near consanguinity therewith, but to assume that they are exactly 

 identical with it is something against all experience of the close observer. And 

 what one worker finds practical another does not; he who has to determine 

 thousands of skins will naturally find "splitting" less inconvenient that one who 

 has to work with tens of thousands. 



Little has been recorded about this species in a wild state, its habits, nesting, 

 local movements, etc. Meyer met with it in large flocks near Manado in March; 

 Guillemard found it near Kema in small flocks, feeding in the grass. It would 

 seem to breed late in the year, or perhaps several times a year, as Fischer's 

 eggs from Ternate were taken on the 20"" October. 



Munia molucca is a very distinct species. M. acuticauda Hodgs. of the 

 Indian Region differs by having white shaft-streaks to the feathers of the upper 

 surface, jugulum dark brown with U-shaped bars of whitish, under parts white 

 with very obscure bars, rump almost pure white, tail more pointed, etc. This 

 species is perhaps as nearly related to M. molucca as any one. 



