360 
BIKDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
the mode of construction of this marvellous structure ; a full account of it 
will be found in Dr. Jerdon^s work. The breeding-season commences in 
April,, and from ten to fifty pairs of birds nest in company. They either 
select the eaves of a thatched building, frequently nesting inside the 
verandah itself, or the pendent branches of a thorny tree. In this latter 
case they seem to prefer a tree the branches of which grow over the water. 
The eggs are two or three in number and pure white. 
338. PLOCEUS MANYAR. 
THE STRIATED WEAVER-BIRD. 
Fringilla manyar, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 160 ; Hume, S. F. vi. p. 399 
(footnote). Euplectes striatus, Bl. J. A. S. B. xi. p. 873, Ploceus manyar, 
Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 348 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 440 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 92 ; 
Oates^ S. F. v. p. 160 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 106; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 646. 
Description. — Male in summer. Forehead and top of head yellow ; throaty 
cheeks, ear-coverts and sides of neck black or brownish black ; lower 
plumage fulvous, each feather stiiated with black down the centre, ex- 
cept on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; upper plumage dark brown 
edged with pale fulvous ; wings and tail brown edged with yellowish ; the 
throat is sometimes coloured a pale brown, and the intensity of the fulvous 
on the lower parts varies much. 
Bill bluish black, paler at the gape ; iris brown ; legs flesh-colour ; claws 
pinkish horn. 
Female in summer and both sexes in winter. Whole upper plumage dark 
brown with fulvous edgings, very narrow on the head and broad on the 
back ; a supercilium and a spot behind the ear- coverts yellow ; a line 
under the eye and a short moustachial streak pale yellow ; ear-coverts and 
cheeks dusky ; throat blackish in some, dusky in others, and in many 
whitish, each feather being centred black ; lower plumage fulvous, with 
dark brown striations on the breast and flanks; wings and tail brown 
edged with fulvous. 
Bill yellowish horn-colour, other parts as above. 
Length 5*7 inches, tail I'S, wing 2' 7, tarsus -8, bill from gape 7. The 
female is rather smaller. 
Although Horsfield''s description of Fringilla manyar is unsatisfactory, all 
mention of the striations on the breast being omitted, there is little doubt 
but he referred to the present species under the above name. Specimens 
of this Weaver-bird procured by him in Java are now in the British 
Museum. P. baya^ so far as is known, does not occur in J ava. 
The Striated Weaver-bird is spread throughout British Burmah wherever 
