MTJxNIA STEIATA. 
(THE WHITE-BACKED MUNIA.) 
Loxia striata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 306 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 144. 
Amadina striata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1844, xiii. p. 349 ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 126 (1852) ; 
Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 258. 
Munia striata, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 117 (1849) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 356 (1863) ; 
Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 464; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 448 (1874); Fairbank, 
Str. Feath. 1876, p. 260 ; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 222. 
Striated Grosbealc, Latham ; The Striated Munia, Striated Finch of some ; Striped Paddy- 
bird, Europeans in Ceylon, also Ortolan. ShaJcari munia, Bengal. (Blyth). 
W6-Tcurulla, Sinhalese ; Tvnna Jcumvi, Ceylonese Tamils; Pastro de Neli, Portuguese in Ceylon. 
Adult male and female. Length 4-5 to 4-7 inches ; wing 2-06 to 2T5 ; tail 1-6 to 1'8, centre feathers 0-4 longer than 
the lateral pair ; tarsus 0-5 ; middle toe and claw 0-6 to 0-63 ; bill to gape 0-4 to 0-45, height at nostril 0'33. 
Eemales are tlie smaller of the sexes. 
Iris brown or reddish brown in some ; bill and upper mandible blackish leaden, lower mandible bluish, with dark tip ; 
legs and feet bluish or dusky leaden. 
Poi’ehead, face, fore neck, and chest dull black, paling gradually at the crown into the sepia-browm of the hind neck, 
back, and scapulars ; upper tail-corerts darker brown than the back ; feathers of the crown, hind neck, back, 
scapulars, secondary wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts with whitish shafts ; wings blackish brown, the quills 
with inner basal edges of rufesceut fawn ; lower back and rump forming a band of less than ^ an inch in width, 
white, some of the feathers generally with brownish tippings or cross marks; tail brownish black; under surface 
with the flanks, from the chest to the vent, unmarked white ; lower flank-feathers covering the thighs sepia- 
brown, with whitish shafts ; under tail-coverts brownish black, with rusty tips ; thighs dark brown ; under wing- 
coverts pale fawn-colour. 
Some examples have not the black chest clearly defined against the white breast, the feathers at the top of the latter 
being patched with blackish : again, others are much paler brown above ; these are probably birds in the first stage 
of the adult dress. 
Young‘! An example shot in July (Galle) has the wing 2-0 ; bill blackish ; legs and feet lilac-grey. 
Head and occiput dark brown, changing into brownish rufous on the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts; wings and tail 
brown, edged with rufous-brown ; beneath rufesceut white, strongly tinged with rufous on the chest. 
A.B. This is only the presumed young of this species. I shot the sijecimen out of a flock of three ; from its smaller 
size and more diminutive bill than those of the last species I take it to be M. striata. I am not sure of it, as 
subsequently I omitted to place the matter beyond doubt, and I have not met with a description of the young in 
any Indian work. I bring this subject especially to the notice of my readers, as young birds must be common 
enough. 
Obs. A “ Malabar ” specimen in my collection corresponds well with dark examples from Ceylon. Wing 2-05 inches ; 
tail I‘8. 
There are several remarkably closely allied Asiatic species to the present, which form a “ well-defined subgroup 
of the genus Munia” (Walden). Lord Tweeddale, in his valuable paper on an Andaman collection (Ibis, 1874, 
p. 144), gives the following useful diagnosis of these Munias : — 
“ Uropygium ivhite. — M. striata. Dorsal plumage pale-shafted ; abdominal region and Hanks pure white. 
“ M. acuticauda, Hodgson. Abdominal plumage white, faintly marked with pale brown ; middle rectrices elongated. 
“ M. fmnigata, Walden (Andamans). Dorsal plumage unstriated.” 
(To these may be added M. semistriata, Hume, Str. Death. 1874, p. 257 (JSTicobars) : smaller than the last, with propor- 
tionately longer tail, a faint trace of strim on the back, feathers of the breast narrowly margined with pale rufous- 
brown.) 
"'Uropygium uniform with tlie hack. — M. leucogastra, Blyth (Malacca). Dorsal plumage pale-shafted; flanks dark 
brown ; middle rectrices lustrous yellow. 
