404 THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Genus Stictoptera. 

 Confined to Australia. 



The Banded Finch. 



Stictoptera bichenovii. 



Australia generally. 



Upper surfaces light brown, pencilled witli indistinct dusky brown 

 cross bars; a black bar across the rump; upper tail-coverts white; tail 

 feathers black; wings chequered with white; lores, narrow eyebrow and 

 sides of face white; under surface of body yellowish-white, with a 

 narrow black collar across the lower throat and a black band across the 

 breast; under tail-coverts black; under wing-coverts fulveseent; bill pale 

 blue; iris black; eyelash black. Total length 3.8 inches, culmen .4, 

 wing 2.15, tail 1.6, tarsus .6. Female less brilliant, and the black bands 

 on the throat and breast narrower. Egg soft-white, .6 x A inch. 



The Black-ringed Finch. 



Stictoptera annulosa. 



North-west Australia and Northern Territory. 



Like preceding, but with rump black instead of white. Total length 

 4 inches. 



Genus Munia. 

 A large genus extending over the Indian and Indo-Malayan 

 Peninsula, Ceylon, Indo-Chinese Region, through Malaysia to 

 Papua and Australia. 



The Chestnut-breasted Finch. 



Munia castaneithorax. 



Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. 



Head and most of the upper surfaces cinnamon-brown, the feathers 

 obscured by their ashy tips; lower rump, upper tail-coverts and central 

 tail feathers glossy straw colour; lores, sides of face, and throat blackish 

 with tiny brown shaft lines; sides of neck, fore-neck and chest pale 

 cinnamon; breast and abdomen white with a black band across the 

 breast; under tail-eoverts black. Total length 4.5 inches, culmen .5, wing 

 2.15, tail 1.45, tarsus .6. Female a little smaller and paler. 



The Yellow-rumped Finch. 



Munia xanthoprym na. 



North-west Australia and Northern Territory. 



Head all round hoary grey; upper surfaces generally chestnut-brown; 

 the upper tail-coverts golden ochre; throat whiter; rest of under surfaces 

 of body creamy-buff, tinged with fawn on the breast; under tail-coverts 

 black. Total length 4.3 inches, culmen .5, wing 2,2, tail 1.35, tarsus .6. 



