11 
Rice birds .—The weaver finches, or rice birds, are prob¬ 
ably the worst pest in the way of birds to be found in the 
Islands. The Philippine weaver ( maiya ) 18 is very abundant 
and descends in clouds upon rice seed beds and upon the 
ripening grain a short time before the rice harvest. 
Although there is no doubt that the rice birds do a great deal 
of damage, the period during which they eat rice is short 
and their food during the rest of the year is probably weed 
seeds. Therefore, it would be unjust to consider the rice 
Fig. 10. A Philippine nightjar, Caprimulgus griseatus Tweeddale. (From Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus., vol. 16.) 
birds wholly injurious unless they are found to do damage 
throughout the year. 
Shore birds and water birds .—The food of Philippine 
shore and water birds has not been thoroughly studied; in 
fact, very little is known about these birds. The food of two 
species may be noted as suggestive that other important 
facts with regard to these classes remain to be discovered. 
Recently examined specimens of the Philippine grebe ( su- 
liasit ) 19 from Lake Bay show that this species is very par¬ 
tial to a small species of shrimp. Thus, this bird may be of 
economic importance in relation to the shrimping industry. 
18 Munia jagori Martens is the common rice bird. Munia ccibanisi 
Sharpe is equally abundant in some localities, while Uroloncha eve- 
retti (Tweeddale), a much rarer species, on one occasion was seen 
eating rice in a seed bed. 
18 Tacky bap tus philippensis (Bonaterre). 
