86 BIRDS IN SINGAPORE. 
Several of the Munias are to be seen about the gardens, 
but the commonest is the little A7unia Maya “ Pipit kapala 
putih,” the white headed finch, which is most abundant, and 
flocks of twenty or thirty are frequently to be seen on the grass 
plots. It makes a domed nest of bents in a bush and laysa 
number of small white eggs. 
The Java sparrow (Amadina oryzivora) is evidently not a 
native here. It is abundant in the gardens, where it nests, and 
in other places near town, but is never to be seen any distance 
from this part of Singapore. 
The tree sparrow (Passer montanus) is also a town bird, 
and never seems to go far away from civilization. It nests in 
houses and is often a great nuisance, putting its nests in all 
kinds of odd corners, blocking waterpipes, and even sometimes 
utilising rolled up chicks as a suitable locality, so that when the 
chicks are lowered the whole nest falls to the ground. The 
nest and eggs resemble closely those of the House sparrow, 
but the eggs are greyer in colour. 
The Sunbirds, often erroneously called Humming-birds by 
residents, are often to be seen, especially fluttering about the 
Hibiscus flowers seeking for insects. The commonest is An- 
thothreptes Maluccensis, the male of which is a lovely little thing, 
with its head and back of a beautiful metallic purple, a brown 
throat and yellow body. The female is duller, mostly brown in 
colour. It makes a hanging nest on the end of a bough, about 
six inches long, of bark fibres and nests of caterpillars, and lined 
with feathers. The nest is pear-shaped with a hole at the side, and 
a kind of little eave is thrown out over it to keep the rain from 
getting into the nest. The eggs are three or four in number, 
small and rather a long oval in shape, light grey in colour. — 
Another charming little thing is Dicaeum cruentatum, a 
very small brown bird, with a scarlet head, which appears flitting 
. about in the shrubberies from time to time. _ 
A less common visitor is Aethopyga Siparajah, a very small 
scarlet and black kind, very showy. It seems to be commoner 
near the sea coast, where I have seen it fluttering about the scarlet 
flowers of the beautiful tree Lummnitzera coccinea. 
The Arachnotheras, or spider hunters, are duller coloured 
birds, conspicuous from their very long curved beaks. <A. modesta 
haunts tbe large-leaved gingers, and Heliconias in the gardens, 
