372 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
lids purpurescent ; inside of mouth salmon- colour ; legs flesh-colour ; claws 
horny. 
Length 4 inches, tail 1'5, wing I'S, tarsus '58, bill from gape '36. The 
female is a trifle smaller. 
Horsfield^s type of F. punicea, now in the British Museum, does not 
appear to me to differ in any way from Mr. Wallace^s specimens from 
riores nor from the Burmese birds. 
The present species differs from the allied E. amandava in having the 
lower plumage in both sexes a clear saffron- or reddish yellow instead of a 
blackish brown. The white spots on the upper plumage are more nume- 
rous and the crimson more vivid. 
I collected these birds during every month of the year, and I am con- 
fident that they undergo no seasonal changes of plumage. The young 
birds take nearly a year to acquire the adult plumage. 
Horsfield^s Waxbill is very abundant in Southern Pegu in the vast 
grassy plains which lie between the Pegu and the Sittang rivers. I have 
not noticed it north of the latitude of Shwaygheen. It becomes rare 
towards Rangoon, but Dr. Armstrong observed it as far south as Elephant 
Point. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it in Karennee. 
This small bird has a very considerable range. The specimens procured 
by Dr. Anderson near Bhamo, some of which are now in the British 
Museum, are referable to this species. It occurs in Siam and Cochin 
China, and also in the islands of Java, Flores and Timor. 
This Waxbill is found only in grass-land and paddy-fields. They 
associate in tolerably large flocks and feed on the ground on minute seeds. 
Their flight is very rapid, and is effected by constant beatings of the 
wing, so rapidly carried out that the wings cannot be clearly seen, and 
these tiny birds look when flying like so many huge bees. 
The nesting-season commences about the middle of October and lasts 
till the beginning of December. The nest is a spherical mass of grass, 
lined with feathers and placed near the ground in a soft tuft of grass. The 
eggs are four to six in number and white in colour. 
