648 
PLOCEUS MANYAE. 
Distribution, — According to my observations the Striated Weaver-bird is not a common bird in Ceylon- 
Layard, who discovered it in the island, remarks, “ I found it replacing P. philijjjnnus in the neighbourhood 
of Tangalla and, alluding to the possibility of Kelaart having seen it at Trincomalie, suggests the probability 
of the species extending round the east coast to that place. I think I met with a flock once at a tank in the 
Trincomalie district; but, as I was unable to procure a specimen, I am unable to record it with certainty. I 
likewise saw what may have been this species near the Wallaway river; but unfortunately it did not occur to 
me at the time, although they were frequenting a reed-bed, that they were not the Common Weaver-bird, and 
I allowed them to pass unmolested ! In both these localities, particularly at Trincomalie, the latter species is 
found not unfrequently, so that no dependence can be placed on my surmise. There is, if I mistake not, a 
specimen in the Colombo Museum, shot near Borelesgamuwa. I have never seen it in any collections, nor 
heard of it having been procured in any part of the island other than the localities above mentioned. 
On the mainland of India this species has, it would appear, quite as extensive a range as the last, for, in 
addition to being diffused throughout the peninsula, it extends on the one side as far north as Sindh, and on 
the other into Burmah, and thence as far south as Tenasserim, where it is found between the Sittang river and 
Salween. Mr. Davison obtained it on the Thatone plain, where, from his remarks, it was not plentiful. In 
the south of India Mr. Bourdillon met with it near Trevandrum, in southern Travancore. Jerdou remarks 
that it is rare in the Deccan, and 1 observe that it has not been recorded from there by recent observers ; in 
addition to which Mr. Hume states that it is not common in Southern India. In the north-west Captain 
Butler met with it at Milana, near Deesa ; but it does not seem to be common in that district. In Sindh 
according to INIr. Hume, it is plentiful; he writes, “Everywhere in the giant flowering-grasses, so common in 
the neighbourhood of Shikarpore and other similar localities in Upper Sindh, this Weaver-bird is seen in large 
parties ” in that province. It breeds only where there are large sheets of water, as is the case in other districts 
of Northern India. It is found at Etawah, breeding there, as also in the Aligurh, Mynpoorie, and Cawnpore 
districts. Further east and to the south Mr. Ball records it from Orissa, north of the Mahanadi ; and in the 
Furreedpore district Mr. Cripps says that it is very common. As regards Pegu, Mr. Oates says “ this species is 
scarcely less common about Thayetmyo than Baya-,’' but in the Irrawaddy delta Mr. Armstrong did not meet 
with it. It is found in Java, having been described from there by Horsfield ; but in Borneo it has not been 
as yet observed; in fact the genus F looms does not find a iflace in Salvadori^s ' Uccelli di Borneo’; neither 
can I find any mention of it in Sumatra ; but in the district of Lampong the Malayan race of the Indian Baya, 
entitled P. maculatus, P. L. S. Muller, by Lord Tweeddale, occurs. 
Habits. — This handsome Weaver-bird has a partiality for long grass in open country and reeds near water 
in one or other of which it is usually met with. But little has been written concerning its habits except as 
regards its nidification, which is almost as interesting as that of the last species. The birds which I hesita- 
tingly identify as the Black-throated lYeaver-bird w^ere congregated in a large flock about reeds and rushes, 
and w'ere as noisy as the common species, flying up and settling down again continually. Mr. Hume found 
its food to consist of insects as well as grass-seeds, and writes as follows concerning its habits in Sindh : 
“ Flalf a dozen may be seen perched close side by side upon the topmost sprays of the largest grass-stems, 
which, curved slightly beneath their weight, sway backwards and forwards at every passing breath, apparently 
much to their satisfaction. No sooner, however, are half a dozen comfortably placed than a dozen others 
insist on sharing the perch; great is the commotion that ensues, down bends the grass-stem and off they all 
fly, to resume the same game on some other stem ; and so they will go on continuously for half an hour.” 
Nidification. — The Striated Weaver-bird breeds in Upper India in August and September, building a nest 
of the same character as the last species, suspended from high reeds or bulrushes. Great numbers are often 
placed close together ; Mr. Hume writes of having found nearly a hundred in a small bulrush island not 
20 yards in diameter. He thus describes the nests : — “ They are formed of the same materials ” (as those 
of P. philippinus) “and woven in the same manner; but the upper or body portions are more massive and 
clumsier, and the tubes are shorter. The points of some forty or fifty narrow bulrush-leaves are commonly 
gathered together and incorporated into the upper portion of the nest to form a point of suspension. The 
true nest, exclusive of the tubular entrance-passage, averages about 7^ inches in length externally, with a 
