MALAYAN OBNITHOLOGY. 21 



This little white-headed Munin is very common throughout the 

 west of the peninsula, including the islands of Penang and 

 Singapore. When the grain is ripe it is to be seen in countless 

 numbers in the paddy-fields. On being disturbed it rises with 

 a feeble, twittering cry, the flocks whirling and twirling over the 

 top of the paddy like clouds of dust on a road when the wind 

 is blowing. It is commonly known in the Straits as the " cigar 

 bird " — a capital name ; for, when flying, its white head, brown 

 body, and small size give it very much the appearance of a cigar 

 with the white ash on it. 



Munia atricapilla (Vieill.). 



Common, though not so much so as M. maja. Like that species, 

 it congregates in large flocks. My note-book says : — 



" Sayong, Perak, 23rd May, 1877. To-day, on the low ground 

 bordering Sayong Jheel, I shot several Munias out of a large 

 flock which rose from the paddy. They are very like M. maja, 

 except that they have the head black instead of white. 



" One of these, a male, is 4 T 5 ¥ inches in length, irides red- 

 brown, beak plumbeous, head, neck, and upper part of breast 

 black, upper tail-coverts golden-chestnut, rest of plumage chest- 

 nut, becoming dusky on the tail ; its stomach contained a great 

 many minute particles of quartz." 



At first I thought this bird was Munia rubronigra, Hodgs., which 

 it much resembles ; but that species has the middle of the belly, 

 the vent, and the under tail-coverts black instead of chestnut. 



Munia acuticauda (Hodgs.). 



By no means rare during the winter months, or more correctly 

 during the N.E. monsoon : it keeps in small flocks and frequents 

 scrubby ground, not breeding till late in May. 



Near Tanglin, Singapore, on 29th July, I found a nest of this 

 Munia, a large, oval mass of bents, built in the crown of a 

 beetle- nut palm; and the young birds, eight or ten in number, 

 though perfectly able to fly away, were flitting about it ; so I shot 

 four, in a variety of stages of plumage. The one most decidedly 

 marked was a male : its wings and upper parts were dull brown, 

 becoming whitish on the cheeks and chin, feathers of the back 

 and scapulars pale-shafted, those of the breast, flanks, and upper 



