PLOCEUS MANYAK. 647 



narrowly margined with dull yellowish ; chest and flanks tawny, with deep brown central stripes, rather broad on 

 the chest, and narrowing gradually on the flanks ; the centre of the breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts albes- 

 cent. Examples appear to vary in the intensity of the colouring of the throat and in the amount of striation on 

 the chest. 



Nonbreeding -plumage (Burmah). Head and upper parts blackish brown, the feathers edged with tawny; a light 

 stripe over the eyes ; lower part of the cheeks and the throat whitish, tinged with yellow ; breast and flanks 

 striated darkly, as in breeding-plumage. 



An example beginning to change to breeding-dress has the eye-stripe and a patch above the ear-coverts light yellow, 

 and the throat-feathers changing to black along the shafts. 



Female. Length 5-4 inches ; wing 2-65 ; tail from vent 1-85 ; tarsus 0-91 ; bill from gape 0-63 (Oates). 



" Iris brown ; eyelids grey ; bill yellowish horny, darker on the upper mandible ; legs fleshy ; claws pinkish." 



Similar to the male in winter plumage. 



Obs. I see no difference in Javan and Indian examples of this bird, and I conclude it was with the latter that Blyth 

 compared Layard's skins sent from Ceylon. Horsfield's description is very meagre, and was perhaps taken from 

 a young bird breeding, or it may be simply a case of the incomplete style of description in vogue at the beginning 

 of the present century. 



Other species of Ploceus inhabiting the Indo-Malaccan region are P. bengalensis, from Bengal, Assam, and Burmah, 

 and P. javanensis, Lesson, = H. hypoxanthus, Daudin. The former differs in breeding-plumage from our bird in 

 having the chin, throat, and face white, with a broad black pectoral band reaching upon the sides of the neck ; 

 the head and occiput are pale but brilliant yellow ; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and back brownish black, margined 

 with greyish ; wings and tail brown ; under surface from the chest buffy white ; flanks brownish, with dark shafts 

 to the feathers. The female has the head and hind neck uniform brown ; a pale supercilium ; throat yellowish ; 

 a blackish pectoral band, with the feathers in the centre terminated with whitish, giving it a broken appearance. 

 P. javanensis is a very handsome species, with the head, the sides of the neck, and the entire under surface brilliant 

 chrome-yellow ; throat and cheeks black, and the yellow of the chest just beneath the black tinged with tawny ; 

 the rump, upper tail-coverts, and edges of the back, scapulars, and wing-covert feathers paler yellow than the 

 head ; wings and tail brown. 



cheek-patch, and the parts which are slate-grey in this species are ruddy brown in it ; breast and lower parts 

 white, divided from the brown chest by a blackish border ; wing 2-4 to 2-5 inches. 



Distribution. — -This well-known bird, which is largely imported into Ceylon as a cage-pet, has been successfully 

 acclimatized in Ceylon. 



It is now no uncommon occurrence to meet with a small flock on the compounds surrounding the Colombo Lake. I 

 saw one in the pretty grounds of the bungalow belonging to the Messrs. Green, of Colombo, in April 1870 ; and my friend 

 Mr. J. P. Green informs me that he saw a few near the house last year. They are, however, frequently seen in other 

 places in the neighbourhood of Colombo, and have even been introduced into some of the coffee-districts, where they are, 

 it appears, thriving as well as in Colombo. Mr. Bligh writes, from Kotmalie, in the Ceylon As. Journal for 1874 : — " I 

 have frequently seen them in the jungle, where they are so wild, and keep to the tops of the highest jungle-trees in in- 

 accessible places, that I have not yet been able to obtain a specimen ; they seem to be quite at home in this wdld district."' 



Jerdon states that it has been turned out so much near Madras that it may be seen wild there. It occurs in Tenas- 

 serim, whence I have seen examples in the British Museum ; and Blyth states that Major Berdmore procured it in the 

 Mergui province. In Malacca it is common. It is found abundantly in Java, and also in Sumatra, in the Lampong 

 district of which latter island Mr. Buxton lately procured it. Further east than Java it has been obtained in the island 

 of Lornbok ; and no doubt it occurs in other islands of the great chain which terminates 'with Timor. It has been intro- 

 duced into St. Helena, and, according to Mr. Melliss, is numerous there. 



Habits.- — This bird appears to affect trees as much as the nearly allied Munias resort to the ground. It flies swiftly, 

 and is restless and shy. In confinement it is as docile as all birds of its kind, and it is consequently a favourite cage-pet. 

 It feeds on the ground, tripping quickly on the grass, and it clings, with the agility of its family, to stalks of grain, to 

 which it is no doubt very destructive during harvest-time. 



