642 
PLOCEUS PHILIPPINUS. 
immature male of the same month, probably bred late in the preceding autumn and not about to breed, has the 
upper-surface feathers margined with a less tawny hue than the above, and the centre of the fore neck and sides 
of chest with conspicuous, though very fine, dark shaft-stripes, and has no trace of a yellow tinge on the lower 
surface. This specimen has some resemblance to the Striated Weaver-bird ; but I have compared it with skins of 
the latter, and the strise are not of the same character at all, but resemble those on the flanks of adult indivdduals 
of the present species. 
Ohs. A Malabar skin of this bird in breeding-plumage has the yellow of the head and chest of a deeper hue than 
almost any I have seen from Ceylon ; but another from “ Madras ” is identical with a male in my own collection. 
The specific name which I here employ and which appears to be the correct one, is not aptly applied to 
our Indian species, and is, in fact, an inappropriate name altogether, as the bird is not foimd in the Philippine 
archipelago. The Indian-peninsular form has of late years been usually styled P. baya ; but Mr. Hume now 
considers that Blyth applied this name to a large race with a differently coloured chest, which occurs in Nepal, 
Sikhim, Eastern Bengal, Burmah, and the Malay peninsula. The late Marquis of Tweeddale and Mr. Hume are 
of opinion that Linmeus’s name applies to the common Indian Weaver-bird ; and after perusing the remarks of the 
former, written in his admirable paper on the birds of the Philippine archipelago, I think that there is little 
doubt that the species so named by Linnaeus was no other than the present. The Marquis first of all points out that 
there is no Weaver-bird in the Philippines, and then remarks that, according to Bulfon, D’Aubenton’s figure was 
taken from a male example of Brisson’s Ooccoihraustes philippinensis, on which Linnaeus founded Loxia philipyina ; 
Brisson’s description completely agrees with P. haya, Blyth, and cannot, as some think, apply to P. hypoxanthus 
of Indian authors. Eurthermore, Brisson describes and figures the nest of his Weaver-bird, which is unmis- 
takably that of P. haya. 
Mr. Hume writes that the larger form, his presumed P. haya of Blyth, differs from the true phUipphms in the much 
more rufeseent character of its lower plumage ; and he is also of opinion that the males do not assume the yellow 
breast in the breeding-season. He recognizes a third form in his P. megarliymlms (Ibis, 1869, p. 356), which 
has an immense bill for its size, measuring 0-84 to gape, and in the wing 2-95 inches, and differs from P, pliilippinus 
“ in the darker and more rufeseent tone of the entire plumage, and in the almost entire absence of striations on 
the crown, the much broader and sparser striations of the back, with entire absence of any rufous or rufeseent 
supercilium, and in the cheeks and ear-coverts being unicolorous with the rest of the sides of the head and nape.” 
Distribution . — The Baya is common throughout all the low country, but I have always found it more 
numerous in the maritime provinces than in the interior. It is very local, keeping in large flocks to certain 
spots for some time, breeding in them, and then disappearing for months at a time, during which it occupies 
other localities suited to its habits •, and this wandering disposition has caused some to think that it is 
migratory. It is, I think, more frequently met with in the south and west than in the north of the island, 
although I seldom failed to find flocks of it at all seasons frequenting the open country surrounding the salt 
lagoons and estuaries in the Trincomalie district ; and I have likewise met with it in similar spots in the 
neighbourhood of Hambantota and Battiealoa, so that it cannot be said to be very much more partial to the 
west than the east side of the island. In the Anaradjapura district Mr. Parker has met with it not unfrequently, 
and at Uswewa he says it is not uncommon. I have seen it in the Kuruuegala district, and at Chilaw I found 
it in large flocks. About Colombo I have met with it as near to the town as Cotta, where it breeds, as it 
likewise does occasionally at Borelesgamuwa. I am not aware that it has been found in the hills. 
This Weaver-bird is found throughout peninsular and continental India, and would appear, from 
Mr. Hume^s first writings on the subject, to extend to Burmah and Tenasserim, although from later 
disquisitions in ‘ Stray Feathers ’ it w'ould appear that he identifies the bird inhabiting those regions with 
what he considers Blyth’s true P. baya from Nepal, Sikhim, and Eastern Bengal. In the first list of 
Tenasserim birds ('Stray Feathers,^ 1874) we find that the Ploceus baya of the province is “identical with 
continental Indian specimens,” by which I understand the smaller race with the pure yellow breast. Again, 
in the “Birds of Pegu,” t. c. 1875, it is written : — “ Specimens from Thayetmyo agree well with others from 
all parts of India.” But in the “Birds of Tenasserim ” (Str. Feath. 1878) we find all the specimens of this 
type entered as true baya, Blyth, apud Hume, which is stated to inhabit Nepal and Sikhim, Eastern Bengal 
and Burmah, and not continental India. This matter apparently requires elucidation. At any rate our 
Ceylonese bird is found in suitable places in Southern India, and is common in the Deccan, from which the 
Rev. Dr. Fairbank records it; in the north-west it is common at the Sambhur Lake and in the plains 
