370 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Genus ERYTHRURA, Swains. 
346. ERYTHRUEA PRASINA. 
THE GREEN MUNIA. 
Fringilla prasina, Sparrm. Mus. Carls, t. 72, 73, Erythrura prasina, Salvad. 
Ucc. Born. p. 268 ; Hume Sf Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 405 ; Hume, S. F. yiii. p. 107. 
Description. — Male. The forehead^ the cheeks^ the feathers round the 
eye^ the ear-coverts^ chin and throat blue ; top of head^ sides of neck, 
back, wing-coverts and tertiaries green ; rump, upper tail-coverts and 
middle pair of tail-feathers crimson ; other feathers of the tail brown ; abdo- 
men crimson ; sides of body, vent and under tail-coverts buff ; primaries 
and secondaries brown edged with green. 
Female. The whole upper plumage green, except the tail-coverts and 
central tail-feathers, which are red, but duller than in the male; the 
whole lower plumage fulvous, tinged with green on the throat, breast and 
flanks. In some females there is a tinge of blue on those parts which are 
blue in the male. There is no trace of crimson on the lower surface. 
Young birds, according to Mr. Hume, have the crimson of the upper 
parts replaced by yellow, and the abdomen is gamboge-yellow instead of 
crimson. ~ . 
Legs, feet and claws fleshy pink, the bill black, and the irides dark 
brown. (Davison.) 
Length 6 inches, tail 2*75, wing 2*3, tarsus '6, bill from gape 'SS. The 
female is as large as the male, but has the tail only about 1*6 inch long; 
this difference is caused solely by the middle rectrices, all the others 
remaining the same as in the male. 
The Green Munia was observed in the extreme south of Tenasserim by 
Mr. Davison, who states that it is a visitor during the rice-harvest to the 
neighbourhood of the Pakchan. 
It has been found at Salangore in the Malay peninsula, and it extends 
to Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 
Mr. Davison says : — I first met with this lovely species at the village 
of Bopyin, where I found it associating with flocks of Munia acuticauda 
and feeding in the rice-fields ; they were very shy and, on being fired at, 
immediately retreated to the dense bamboo-jungles surrounding the fields. 
Their note is very similar to that of the Munias, and is uttered both when 
seated and flying ; they have also a soft twittering note, which they con- 
tinually utter when roosting.^"* 
