MUNIA PUNCTULATA. 



(THE SPOTTED MUNIA.) 



Loxia punctulata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 302 (1766). 



Loxia undulata, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 387 (1790). 



Munia undulata (Lath.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 117 (1S49) ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. 



B. Mus. E. L Co. ii. p. 506 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 354 (1863) ; Holdsworth, 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 464 ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 275. 

 Amadina undulata (Lath.), Kelaart, Prodrornus, Cat. B. p. 125 (1852); Layard, Ann. & 



Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 258. 

 Lonchura jnmctulata (L.), Adam, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 387 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 420; Butler 



& Hume, ibid. 1875, p. 495. 

 Munia punctulata, Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 444 (1874); Fairbank, Str. Feath. 1876, 



p. 260, et 1877, p. 408; Davidson & Wender, ibid. 1878, vol. vii. p. 85 ; Ball, t.c. 



p. 222 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 293. 

 Cowry Grosbeak, Edwards, Birds, pi. 40 ; The Reddish Indian Finch, Kelaart ; The Barred 



Munia of some. Telia Munia, Hind, in North ; Sing-bay, Hind., Deccan and Mussoori ; 



Shubz Munia, Bengal. ; Kakkara jinuwayi, Telugu (Jerdon). 

 We-kurulla, Sinhalese; Tinna kuruvi, Tamils ; Pastro de Neli, Portuguese in Ceylon. 



A'luh male and female. Length 5-1 inches ; wing 2T to 2 - 25 ; tail 1/75 ; tarsus 0'6 ; middle toe and claw 075 ; bill 



at front 0-45. 

 Individuals vary in size, and I think females generally average smaller than males. 

 Iris light red ; bill variable according to age, slate-colour or blackish leaden, in some brownish, the lower mandible 



paler at the base ; legs and feet bluish or plumbeous. 

 Head, upper surface, sides of neck, and lower part of throat chestnut-brown, blending into the rich deep chestnut of 



the throat and face. 

 Above the feathers have narrow light stri®, which extend to the upper tertials ; wings brown, edged with chestnut ; 



upper tail-coverts, margins of tail-feathers, and tips of those on the rump ochre-yellow, more or less glistening ; 



some of the feathers of the latter have indistinct brownish bars and whitish striae ; beneath from the chest white, 



with wavy edges and cross bars of blackish brown on the upper breast and sides, darkest and most conspicuous on 



the flanks ; under tail-coverts unspotted white. 



Young. Above pale earthy brown, darker on the head ; secondaries edged with fulvous ; upper tail-coverts tinged 

 with obscure yellowish ; beneath pale sullied buff, albescent on the lower parts. 



Birds acquiring the adult plumage have the upper part of the breast without the cross bars, the feathers being merely 

 subedged with brown ; the tertials tipped with white with a dark edge. 



'l'lic young of this species, of M. malacca, and M. rubronigra are very similar ; the dark thighs in the latter lead to a 

 speedy recognition, while the yellowish upper tail-coverts in the present species distinguish it from M. malacca, in 

 which these parts are rufescent. 



Obs. Five examples from the Himalayan district (Darjiling to North-west Himalayas) measure in length of wing 

 from 2-1 to 2-2 inches ; one from the peninsula and another from Mysore both 2-15; all agree in character of 

 coloration and size of bill with Ceylonese examples. 



The Spotted Munia of Tenasserim differs slightly from the present species, and has been separated by Mr. Hume as 

 M. superstriata ; it has " the feathers of the head, neck, mantle, and rump with conspicuous pale shafts ; the 



rump is greyer and the tail-feathers and upper tail-coverts are fringed with au olive-yellow and not the 



golden-yellow " of continental specimens. 



