MUNIA KELAAETI. 
(THE HILL-MUNIA*.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Amadina pectoralis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1851, xx. p. 178; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 126 
(1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 258. 
Munia kelaarti, Blyth, MS.; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 356 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 
p. 299 (orig. descrip.); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 464. 
The Nwwara-Elliija Finch, Kelaart; Ortolan, Hill Paddy-hird, Europeans in Ceylon. 
We-kurulla, lit. “ Paddy-bird,” Sinhalese ; Tinna kuruvi, Tamil (Layard) ; Pastro de Neli, 
Portuguese in Ceylon. 
Ad. supra chocolatino-brunneus, pile! dorsique plumis angustissimi medialiter albido Hueatis : alls nigricantibus 
tectncibus mtenonbus secundariisque brunneis : uropygio ot supracaudalibus nigris, scapis albis, et subtermina- 
liter macula alba ornatis, supracaudalibus longioribus aureo-fulvo temiinatis : caudn saturate brunnea : loris facie 
laterali et gula mgris : redone parotica postica et colli lateribus pallid^ cerwno-brimneis angustissime medialiter 
albolmeatis; corpore reliquo subtiis albo nigroque maculatim marmoratis, plumis albis nigro late fasciatis et 
margmatis : subeaudalibus mgns late albo medialiter lineatis ; rostro nigro, mandibula basaUter cyanescente ; 
pedibus fuscescenti-plumbeis ; iride brunneft. 
Adult male and female. Length 4-6.5 to 4-8 inches ; wing 2-1 to 2-25 ; tad 1-6 to 1-8 ; tarsus 0-5 to 0-6 ; middle toe 
and claw 0-75 ; bill at front 0-5, to gape 0-45 to 0-48. 
In this species the bill is somewhat flatter above and the culmen less arched than in the other Ceylonese members 
of the genus. 
Iris sepia-brown ; bill blackish leaden, bluish at the base of lower mandible ; legs and feet plumbeous, in some with a 
greenish tinge. 
Forehead, cheeks, throat, and fore neck glossy broAvnish black, paling on the head, and changing on the hind neck, 
back, and scapulars into a woody or fulvous brown; the feathers on these parts with whitish or fulvous strife 
(according to the hue of the back), those of the sides of the neck and under surface likewise with white strife ; 
wings, upper taU-coverts, and tail brownish black, the tail-coverts with central arrow-headed white spots, the 
longer feathers glistening ochre-yeUow at the tips ; below the ear-coverts the sides of the neck are pale fawn 
continued down to the sides of the breast ; breast and lower parts white with black edges, and two more or less 
oval black spots on each side of the shaft, imparting a curious chequered appearance ; the black is of greater 
e.vtent on the flanks ; under tail-coverts black, with broad white centres, which in some specimens take the form 
of bars. In specimens in abraded plumage the under surface is much lighter. 
Young. Fpper surface uniform dark brown, wanting both the strife of the back and the white barring of the upper 
tail-coverts ; iipper tail-coverts plain brown ; throat black, barred with white ; fore neck and under surface tawny 
fulvous, with indistinct black lunulations ; under tail-coverts buff, barred with black. 
Ohs. This species was at flrst confounded by Blyth with M.pectoralis from the hills of Southern India, inasmuch as 
he was under the impression that jt was the adult of that Finch, to the young of which Jerdon had given this 
title. He afterwards gave it a MS. name, and in his paper on Ceylonese birds (‘ Ibis’ 1867) fully described a 
specimen of it. It is, m fact, the Ceylonese representative of M. pector alls. This latter, which is found in the 
♦ I have chosen the term Munia for the English name of these little “ Amaduvads.” It is employed by Jerdon, in 
his ‘ Birds of India,’ as being, I conclude, shorter than Amaduvad, the term generally applied to the genus by Europeans in 
India. Hodgson flrst gave the name as a generic one, and remarks in the ‘ Asiatic Eesearches ’ concerning it : “ Munia, 
the name we have assigned to these birds, is well known to the Tarai and to the Hills as the generic appellation of 
several species of tiny gross bills, distinguished for their familiarity with man, their gregarious habits, their depredations 
upon the rice-crops, and their ingenious nests.” 
