o?i " The Be?igalee." 63


regarding the Ploceidae of China, the latest information appears

to be :


Mr. J. C. Kershaw, " Birds of the Quantung Coast, China,"

in the "Ibis," 1904, p. 240, mentions:


" Munia atricapilla. Not common.


,, topela. One of the commonest resident birds.

„ orizivoj'a. Not common.

Uroloncha squafnicollis. A very common resident."

And Messrs. J. D. La Touche and C. B. Rickett, "Further Notes

on the Nesting of Birds in the Province of Fohkien, S.E. China,''

iu the " Ibis," 1905, p. 43, record :


" Uroloncha acuticauda and Mzinia topela" as common

residents.


2nd. THE APPLICATION OF THE NAME

" BENGALEE."


Professor Alfred Newton, " Dictionary of Birds," (1893),

p. 31, writes: "Bengali, the dealers' name for the beautiful

little African bird, Fringilla bengahis of Linnaeus, and some of

its allies, belonging to the Ploceidts (Weaver-bird), and referred

by later writers to the genus Estrilda, Pytelia or Urtegintkus.

The name originated with Brisson ("Ornithol." III., p. 203), who

believed these birds came from Bengal." But as pointed out by

Capt. G. E. Shelley, "Birds of Africa," Part L, p. 186, "Bengala"

may equal Beuguela in West Africa, and not the Indian province

of Bengal.


There seems to me no doubt that the name " Bengalee "

originally and by right belongs to the Crimson-eared Waxbill, or

Cordou-bleu, called " Le Bengali" by Brisson as long ago as

1760 ! A lovely little bird we have all known as the Eslre/da

phoenicotis of Swainson, but whose scientific name in both

the books on African birds now in progress (Shelley's and

Reichenow's) is amended to Urceginthus bengahis.


The word Bengalee, variously spelt, has been used va

various European languages to indicate almost any of the smaller

Weaver-birds, and is still commonly so used in the trade, but

thanks largely to Dr. Butler the term is now generally restricted

by English aviculturists to the bird that forms the subjectof



