THE WHITE-BACKED MUNIA. 
365 
342. AMADINA STRIATA. 
THE WHITE-BACKED MUNIA. 
Loxia striata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 306. Fringilla leuconota, Temm. PL Col 
500. f. 2. Munia striata, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 356 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 
p. 448 ; Wald. Ibis, 1874, p. 144 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 660. Munia leuco- 
nota, Bl. B. Burm. p. 93. Amadina striata, Hume, S. F. viii. p. 107. 
Description. — Male and female. Bump white ; whole upper plumage 
rich dark browu^ darkest on the forehead_, and all the feathers, except those 
on the forehead^ with conspicuous whitish shafts ; tail and wings very dark 
brown ; ear-coverts and sides of neck the same brown as the upper plumage 
with white shafts ; cheeks, chin, throat and upper breast plain dark 
blackish brown ; lower breast, abdomen and sides pure white ; flanks brown, 
with light shafts ; under tail-coverts darker brown, with less conspicuous 
shaft-lines. 
Upper mandible blackish, the lower one bluish; iris reddish brown; 
legs greenish horny. 
Length 4*5 inches, tail 1*6, wing 2, tarsus '5, bill '4. The female is 
of much the same size. 
I insert this species in my work on the authority of Mr. Blyth, who 
states that it occurs in Arrakan, and in the British Museum there is also a 
specimen from this part of Burmah. I am not aware that it has been met 
with in any other part of British Burmah. 
It extends into India and is found over the whole peninsula down to 
Ceylon. In the Andamans and Nicobar Islands it is replaced by closely 
allied races, which have been named respectively A. fumigata, Wald., and 
A. semistriata, Hume. 
The habits of this species do not differ much, if at all, from those of the 
preceding bird. It is found in well- wooded parts of the country, in the 
neighbourhood of houses and on roadsides. It builds the usual, massive, 
globular nest of grass in small trees and lays white eggs. 
