Godfrey Davis—Breeding the Striated Finch or White-hacked Munia 47


A and D, the vitamins of growth. The only thing I could think of were

the ripening heads of bajri or the lesser millet, which was growing in

the fields. Bajri, when ripe, is a little hard, grey-green seed, much

liked by the Grey Partridge, and the seed is ground up fine between

two stones and fed to the young Partridges, which the Indians are so

fond of rearing, and this, with white ants, seems to rear them well.

But Munia and other small birds cannot or will not eat this seed when

ripe and hard but apparently they are very fond of it when it is half-

ripe. I got some half-ripe bajri heads and stripped off the seeds, which

are closely embedded in the head. I found I could get the half-ripe

seeds from the head by stripping the head downwards towards the

stalk and I gave the small, soft half-ripe seeds to the Munias and

Bengalese. They took them greedily at once and thereafter scarcely

ever touched the Indian millet, soaked or dry. I had tried paddy or

unhusked rice, as Munias, when wild, are supposed to feed largely on

this, but while they may feed on the half-ripe heads I found they took

very little of the hard and ripe paddy.


The little Munia had left the nest before I had thought of the half-

ripe bajri, but after I had started to feed it on bajri the feathers on the

head started to grow and in a week its head was covered with black

quills, and clearly the feathers on the head are going to be the same

colour as the parents, or velvety black ; the flight feathers of the young

bird and the tail feathers are like the parents, or velvety black, but

where the parent birds are white the young bird is ashy grey, tinged

with brown. There are no striations on the neck and back, as with

the parent birds, but instead of the fine fight-brown striations there

are some fight-brown spots. When the little Munia came from the

nest it had a conspicuous white spot at each corner of the mouth and

when it opened its beak to be fed, its mouth was a bright greenish

white. This apparently is to guide the parents when they feed it in

the dark recesses of the nest. I do not know if White-backed Munias

have been bred in cage or aviary before, but from my experience I

should say they are most suitable little birds for aviculture. They

quickly get tame and confiding : when noticed the cock used to spread

out his tail fanwise and commence to “ sing ” ; the contrasting black

and white plumage is very effective, suggesting to me a Japanese



