648 PLOCEUS MANYAK. 



Distribution. — According to my observations the Striated Weaver-bird is not a common bird in Ceylon- 

 Layard, who discovered it in the island, remarks, " I found it replacing P. philippinus in the neighbourhood 

 of Tangalla;" and, alluding to the possibility of Kelaart having seen it at Trincomalie, suggests the probability 

 of the species extending round the east coast to that place. I think I met with a flock once at a tank in the 

 Trincomalie district; but, as I was unable to procure a specimen, I am unable to record it with certainty. 1 

 likewise saw what may have been this species near the Wallaway river; but unfortunately it did not occur to 

 me at the time, although they were frequenting a reed-bed, that they were not the Common Wearer-bird, and 

 I allowed them to pass unmolested ! In both these localities, particularly at Trincomalie, the latter species is 

 found not unfrequently, so that no dependence can be placed on my surmise. There is, if I mistake not, a 

 specimen in the Colombo Museum, shot near Borelesgamuwa. I have never seen it in any collections, nor 

 heard of it having been procured in any part of the island other than the localities above mentioned. 



On the mainland of India this species has, it would appear, quite as extensive a range as the last, for, in 

 addition to being diffused throughout the peninsula, it extends on the one side as far north as Sindh, and on 

 the other into Burmah, and thence as far south as Tenasserim, where it is found between the Sittaug river and 

 Salween. Mr. Davison obtained it on the Thatone plain, where, from his remarks, it was not plentiful. In 

 the south of India Mr. Bourdillon met with it near Trevandrum, in southern Travancore. Jerdon remarks 

 that it is rare in the Dcccan, and I observe that it has not been recorded from there by recent observers : in 

 addition to which Mr. Hume states that it is not common in Southern India. In the north-west Captain 

 Butler met with it at Milana, near Deesa; but it does not seem to be common in that district. In Sindh, 

 according to Mr. Hume, it is plentiful ; he writes, " Everywhere in the giant flowering-grasses, so common in 

 the neighbourhood of Shikarpore and other similar localities in Upper Sindh, this Weaver-bird is seen in large 

 parties " in that province. It breeds only where there are large sheets of w r ater, as is the case in other districts 

 of Northern India. It is found at Etawah, breeding there, as also in the Aligurh, Mynpoorie, and Cawnpore 

 districts. Further east and to the south Mr. Ball records it from Orissa, north of the Mahanadi ; and in the 

 Furreedpore district Mr. Cripps says that it is very common. As regards Pegu, Mr. Oatcs says "this species is 

 scarcely less common about Thayctmyo than Bai/a ;" but in the Irrawaddy delta Mr. Armstrong did not meet 

 with it. It is found in Java, having been described from there by Horsfield ; but in Borneo it has not been 

 as yet observed; in fact the genus Ploceus does not find a place in Salvadori's ' Uccelli di Borneo '; neither 

 fan I find any mention of it in Sumatra; but in the district of Lampong the Malayan race of the Indian Baija, 

 entitled P. maculatus, P. L. S. Midler, by Lord Twccddale, occurs. 



Habits. — Tins handsome \\ eaver-bird has a partiality for long grass in open country and reeds near water, 

 in one or other of which it is usually met with. But little has been written concerning its habits except as 

 regards its nidification, which is almost as interesting as that of the last species. The birds which I hesita- 

 tingly identify as the Black-throated Weaver-bird were congregated in a large flock about reeds and rushes, 

 and were as noisy as the common species, Hying up and settling down again continually. Mr. Hume found 

 its food to consist of insects as well as grass-seeds, and writes as follows concerning its habits in Sindh : — 

 " Half a dozen may be seen perched close side by side upon the topmost sprays of the largest grass-sterns, 

 which, curved slightly beneath their weight, sway backwards and forwards at every passing breath, apparently 

 much to their satisfaction. No sooner, however, are half a dozen comfortably placed than a dozen others 

 insist on sharing the perch ; great is the commotion that ensues, down bends the grass-stem and off they all 

 tiv, to resume the same game on some other stem ; and so they will go on continuously for half an hour." 



Nidification. — The Striated Weaver-bird breeds in Upper India in August and September, building a nest 

 of the same character as the last species, suspended from high reeds or bulrushes. Great numbers are often 

 placed close together; Mr. Hume writes of having found nearly a hundred in a small bulrush island not 

 20 yards in diameter. He thus describes the nests : — "They are formed of the same materials" (as those 

 of P. philippinus) "and woven in the same manner; but the upper or body portions are more massive and 

 clumsier, and the tubes arc shorter. The points of some forty or fifty narrow bulrush-leaves are commonly 

 gathered together and incorporated into the upper portion of the nest to form a point of suspension. The 

 true nest, exclusive of the tubular entrance-passage, averages about 7^ inches in length externally, with a 



