MUNIA MALABAEICA. 
C65 
Kattiawar, Guzerat, and Jodhpoor, although it is one of those birds which we miss from Mr. Hume’s 
interesting paper on the birds of the latter region (Str. Feath. 1878^ p. 52), it having been evidently driven 
out of it by the drought of fifteen months which the writer refers to. At the Sambhur Lake it is^ according 
to Mr. Adam^ very common. 
Habits . — This little Finch frequents bare open commons, barren land surrounding the salt-lagoons and 
estuaries of the north and east coasts, as also dry pastm'e-fields and such-like localities in the inteidor, &c. It 
feeds entirely on the ground, rarely alighting on trees ; and congregating in large flocks, often in company with 
the Finch-Lark, trips about in closely packed little troops. I have seen it during the harvest-time in paddy- 
fields with M. punctulata and M. striata attacking the ripe grain ; but its usual food consists of various small 
grass-seeds. Its note is a strong chirrup and the usual plaintive pipe common to these “ Finches.’’ Vv^heii 
paired, the sexes demonstrate much affection for each other, as on one occasion after shooting a female example 
I noticed that its mate flew round and round it in great distress, alighting close to it on the ground and 
piping out a mournful little whistle. During the rainy weather at Christmas I used often to observe flocks of 
these Munias on the esplanade at Trincomalie, where also numbers of Pipits, Finch-Larks, and small Shore- 
Plovers collected to feed. When disturbed the Munias would rise in a dense little pack and fly round and 
round very swiftly until they realighted not far from w'here they were put up, when they would move along all 
in the same direction, picking out the seeds from the short turf-grass. 
Jerdon says that this species frequents hedgerows, thickets near cultivation, and groves of trees, often 
entering gardens, and is met with in the south and in Central India near every village. Mr. Cripps found 
them in Furreedpore in small parties of live to fifteen in number, frequenting hedgerows and cultivated fields. 
Col. Sykes likens its cry to cheet, cheet, cheet. 
Nidification . — This Munia breeds in the north of Ceylon during the cool season from December until 
March, and builds the usual loose large nest of grass, which appears to vary considerably in size, either having 
a rather protuberant opening at the top, one in the side of the egg-chamber, or two with a dividing dome or 
roof between them. It is generally placed in a bush about four or five feet from the ground, and often lined 
with flowering-stems of grasses. 
From Mr. Hume’s article on its nesting, contained in his useful work, we glean that this little Finch 
builds sometimes in various situations, such as a haycock, in the eaves of a verandah, or even in the nest of an 
Eagle; and Col. Sykes has frequently found them in possession of the deserted nests of the Common AVeaver- 
bird. Mr. Blewitt writes to Mr. Hume concerning a pair which built in the body of a large Buzzard’s nest, 
which w'as at the time occupied by a Tawny Eagle {Aquila fulvescens) , and thus describes the circumstanee: — 
''As my man ascended the tree to fetch the Eagle’s eggs I saw a pair of the small M. hopping about 
from branch to branch near the nest in great anxiety, chirping loudly all the while. Taking the binoculars to 
look at the birds and their, as it seemed to me, strange movements more closely, I saw one of them suddenly 
enter and disappear in a small hole in the underpart of the large nest .... Not knowing what the hole 
could be for, I directed the man to inspect it, when to my astonishment it turned out to be a nest in a nest. 
The Munias evidently selected that of the Eagle to make their own in, to receive warmth from their mighty 
companion. From the position of the under nest, the Munias at any time when in it could not have been more 
than two inches separated from the sitting Eagle.” 
Captain Marshall mentions an instance in which he took some eggs of this bird and four of the Common 
Sparrow from a nest in his verandah, and suggests that the nest had been probably built by the Sparrow. 
The eggs vary in number from six to twelve; but sometimes more than one pair lay in the same nest. 
Theobald, as quoted by Jerdon, found once as many as twenty-five together in different stages of incubation. 
They are white, like those of other Munias, spotless of course, and smaller than those of any of the foregoing 
species, as the bird is much smaller in body than they are. The average size is OB by 0'47 inch. 
