658 MUNI A PUNCTULATA. 



accompanied by a little dissyllabic chirp. It roosts in companies among the branches of shrubs and low trees, 

 the lime and orange being favourite resorts. The males are pugnacious in the breeding-season, and may often 

 be found with the face and forehead denuded of part of the feathers from the pecking of antagonistic bills. 

 Layard, in his notes on Ceylon birds (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1851, xiii.), says that the natives fatten these 

 Finches, to be used as medicine in pulmonary complaints. They are caught by them, in common with other 

 birds, by the much-adopted horsehair noose. 



Nidification. — These birds breed pretty well all the year round, but the favourite season is perhaps from 

 April to July. The nest is built in any umbrageous shrub or tree, at a height varying from 5 to 30 feet from 

 the ground, but for the most part at about 10 feet, and is a massive untidy structure of any shape that its 

 situation may require to give it due support ; some are globular, others oval, with the longer axis horizontal 

 or vertical, as the case may be, while many are without any shape whatever ; the materials used are grass- 

 stalks and blades, straw, or strips of cane or palm-leaves ; the egg-cavity is very large and sometimes 

 lined with feathers, but oftener witli fine grass. Several nests are often placed in the same tree, and 

 frequently there are two compartments in the same structure ; but, to my knowledge, they are never both 

 occupied, the second being merely the new nest added to an old one, instead of the latter being repaired, 

 which is very often the case. 



Some large nests frequently measure more than a foot in diameter, the diligent little architects con- 

 structing them in a few days, working without cessation, and flying about with immense straws or grass-stalks 

 in their bills streaming after them in the air. The eggs are from four to six in number, ovals in shape, 

 and pure white, with a considerable gloss on the shell. They measure on the average about - 6G by 

 0-46 inch. 



Layard speaks of thirty or forty nests being placed in one tree. I have never seen more than half a 

 dozen at the most. 



From perusing Mr. Hume's ' Nests and Eggs ' we gather that in most parts of India the Spotted Munia 

 breeds in July and August, but in the Nilghiris from February to September. The nests are built, as in Ceylon, 

 from 5 to 12 feet from the ground, and seven is the normal number of eggs. A notice of this bird's nesting 

 would be incomplete without my subjoining the following charming account, written by Miss Cockburn, from the 

 Nilghiris. She remarks : — " I have watched with great interest the punctual return year after year of these 

 pretty friendly little birds, and have very carefully noted their behaviour and habits. In selecting a place to build 

 on they sit on a twig, and raising themselves as high as possible flap their wings over their backs to ascertain that 

 no small branches are likely to obstruct the progress of their building, thus appearing to be fully aware that 

 their nest will occupy a good deal of space. When perfectly satisfied as to the convenience of the spot, the 

 female remains there while the male flies to a short distance, alights on the ground, and breaking off a piece of 

 fine long grass, flies back with it to the female and continues to bring her at least one piece every minute, 

 while she carries on the building process alone. They begin early and build for an hour or so, then leave off 

 till evening and work late, keeping up an incessant cry of ' kitty, kitty, kitty.' 



" The nest is composed entirely of grass ; the entrance is at one side, a small round hole, so small that 

 two fingers can hardly be inserted. They build in July and August, and lay from six to ten white eggs, so 

 beautifully translucent that the yolk is clearly seen through the shell. When the young are fully fledged they 

 accompany their parents to the grass-fields, but continue to return to their nests every evening for a long 

 time after they have left them during the day. How they all manage to get in is wonderful. The nest appears 

 perfectly full, and they seem to be restless and uncomfortable for some minutes after entering. In the morning 

 they fly out one by one ; those that go first wait for the others on some bush close by. When all are out 

 away they fly in a flock, and are not visible near their nest during the rest of the day. At one time I counted 



no less than fourteen nests of these birds in the trellis of our ' verandah ' and windows I have known 



instances of the House-Sparrow taking possession of the Spotted Munia's nest. They wait till the latter have 

 finished building and then (being much bolder birds) drive the poor Munia away, and adding to the warmth 

 of the nest by a number of feathers, appropriate it to their own use. On one occasion a pair of these Munias 

 had taken a fancy to the trellis at my window. When their nest was completed an impertinent cock Sparrow 

 seemed determined to take possession of it; but I was equally determined he should not. After a good deal 



