MUNIA STEIATA. 661 



" M. leucogastroides, Moore (Java). Dorsal plumage unstriated ; all the rectrices black ; flanks white." 

 M. acuticaiida, which ranges from the mountains of Northern India, through Burmah, Malacca, to China and Formosa, 

 has also the brown of the chest paler than in striata and with pale shaft-stripes. The upper plumage is likewise 

 rather pale compared with that of the latter. The examples I have inspected vary in the wing from 1*95 to 

 2-0 inches. A specimen of M. leucogastra measures 1-9 inch in the wing. 



Distribution. — The White-backed or Striated " Paddy-bird " is, next to M. punctulata, the commonest of 

 the genus in the Western and Southern provinces, and in those parts frequents the interior more than the 

 sea-board. It is, however, scattered more or less over all the low country, being found throughout most of the 

 north of the island, where it is chiefly numerous on the sea-coast. It is found in the Central Province, in all 

 the western parts, including the Kandy country, up to about 2500 feet, and in TJva is common up to 4000 feet, 

 being, in company with M. malacca, more frequent on the patnas round Badulla than the Hill-Munia. 



On the mainland, as far as India proper is concerned, it seems to be restricted to the peninsula and lower 

 Bengal, but it is said likewise to be found in Arrakan {Jerdon, Hume) . It is evidently a locally-stationed 

 species. In the ' Birds of India,' Jerdon writes that it is most abundant on the Malabar coast, and occurs 

 sparingly in other parts of India, in the Northern Circars, and in Lower Bengal. The Rev. Dr. Fairbank 

 records it from " Khandala to Goa, along the Ghat hills;" but Messrs. Davidson and Wender do not include it 

 in their avifauna of the Deccan. Mr. Aitken met with it in Bombay. On the eastern side of the peninsula we 

 find Mr. Ball noting it from Manbhum, Singhbhum, and Raipur ; and Mr. Hume from Sambalpur, north and 

 south of the Mahanadi river. It is said to visit, but not to be resident on, the Nilghiris. 



Habits. — This " Finch " does not associate in such flocks as the spotted species, but is met with chiefly in 

 small parties of less than a dozen, frequenting waste, scrubby land, clearings in the jungle overgrown with 

 bushes, long grass, and very often wild jungle and forest, in the very heart of which I have seen it ; in its 

 nature, therefore, it assimilates to the Ceylon Hill-Munia. When the "paddy" is in ear it resorts to the 

 fields and devours the ripening grain after the manner of its congeners, and when driven off by the watch- 

 boys, alights on the tops of adjacent bushes, and waits its opportunity to return to the attack. It is fond of the 

 Kurrukan (Eleusine indica), which, being grown in clearings in the jungle, is never free from its foragings; it 

 likewise feeds on the berry of the Lantana and other plants. Its flight is feeble and straight, being performed 

 with regular beatings of the wing, and is accompanied by its plaintive chirrup note. 



I glean but little concerning its economy from Indian writings. Jerdon remarks that it is a familiar bird 

 in Malabar, " being constantly seen on the road-side, about houses, and in stable-yards, and it builds in gardens 

 and orchards." Miss Cockburn's experience of it in the Nilghiris is contrary to this. She writes, "The 

 White-backed Munia is not a resident on the Nilghiris, but accompanies the Amaduvads and Spotted Munias 

 in their migrations, and is generally met with in their society, except in the breeding-season, when they are 

 seen alone and in pairs. They are not numerous, and are very shy, never approaching any house. In this 

 respect they are quite unlike the Spotted Munia, whose unceremoniousness endears him to us." 



Nidification. — The breeding-season in the north and south is, for the most part, from May until August ; 

 but, like all these birds, it appears to be constantly nesting, most probably rearing two broods in the year. The 

 nest is built in the fork of a shrub or among the small branches of low trees, from 3 to 10 feet from the 

 ground generally ; it is a loosely-made untidy structure of grass, in the form of a large ball, with the entrance 

 at the side ; the egg-cavity is large and destitute of any lining, save that furnished by the materials of the body 

 of the nest. In shape the eggs are ovate, pure white and tolerably glossy, smaller than those of M. punctidata, 

 some measuring as little as 0'5 inch in length by - 4 in breadth; they vary, however, up to 065 by 0"45. 



As regards India, Mr. Hume remarks that the breeding-season varies according to locality ; " in the 

 Nilghiris they appear," he says, " to lay in July and August. From Yercand a nest was sent to me, taken on 



the 28th of September, containing six eggs Near Raipoor nests were taken in January, and. in 



Manbhoom in April." The nest is described by various observers as large, and loosely constructed of fine and 

 coarse grasses, which, in one that Mr. Blewitt writes about, was intermixed with dry bamboo-leaves. The 

 average size of ten Indian eggs is 0'61 by - 44 inch. 



