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234 Foreign Finches in CaptivHy.
nisoria. says :—" I obtained tins pretty species on the Neilgherries, frequenting long
grass and bushes, and feeding on various seeds, in small parties of four or five. It is
met with occasionally in various parts of the country, as in Mysore, and some of the
more wooded spots, near large towns in the table-land."
Pearson, however, says that it " Flies in large flocks, and is to be met with in
most parts of Bengal."
Later on Jerdon called this species Munia undulata and stated that " the nearly
allied M. piindularia [nisoria of Temminck) occurs in the ¡Mala^-an provinces." The
following is his account of the species :—" The Spotted or Barred Munia is found
throughout India and Ceylon, somewhat rare in the extreme south, common in the
north, and spreading into Assam, and Burmah as far as Tenasserim.* It is somewhat
local in its distribution, but, where met with, is there tolerably abundant. I have seen
it on the edges of the Neilgherries, aud in various parts of the Caruatic and Central
India, as well as in Bengal, but it does not occur in the Malabar Coast. It is
occasionally found in grassy or bush3- ground, and Buchanan Hamilton states it to live
m thickets of Hugla grass (Typha eUphantina), near villages where small grains are
sown; but more frequently it occurs near cultivated ground, affecting mango groves,
or patches of tree jungle. It builds in thorny bushes, chiefly about fields, and make^
a large uest of very fine grass, or not unfrequently of the flowering tufts of some
Sacc/ianim, which I have often seen it conveying to its nest; aud I have always fouud
the nest solitary, contrary to Mr. La3-ard's observations, who states that he has seen
thirty or forty nests in one tree, and that in one instance he found one structure
containing several nests. The eggs, of course, are pure fleshy white, usually four to
six in number. At Thayet-myo I found it building in a hole in the thatch of my
bungalow. Blyth states that this bird, which is very commonly caged, is known in
Bengal as the Nutmeg bird from the peculiar mottling of its breast."
Mr. Allan Hume gives the following very complete series of notes on this
species :—
" The Spotted Munia breeds throughout India and Burma, alike in the plains and
ill the hills, up to the elevations of from 4 , 0 0 0 to 5 , 0 0 0 feet, but as a rule only in wellwooded
and watered tracts. In the more arid portions of the North-Western
Provinces, the Punjab, Rajpootana and Sind, it is but rarely, aud in many localities
never, seen.
" I have invariably found nests in Jul y and August, both in the plains and in the
Himalayas, but in the Nilghiris the breeding season seems to last, in one part or other
of these hills, from February to September.
• Here lie is, of course, including tlie race subsequently named " M, subundulata."—A.G.B.
The Spice Finch. 235
" T h e nests are, as a rule, placed at heights of from 5 to 7 feet, and very rarely
above 12 feet from the ground, in thick thorny bushes or trees. In the plains the
various species of Acacias, in the hills the barberries, are much resorted to as nesting
sites. Occasionally the nest is placed in very unexpected situations in and about
houses, as amongst creepers trained against the verandah trellis, in a large straw
scarecrow placed in a garden close to the house, in an old thatched roof, &c.
" The nest is globular, very large indeed for the size of the bird, an oblate
spheroid as a rule, from 8 to fully 10 inches in diameter, and 6 to 7 inches in height.
The nest is usually wedged between some convenient fork and not iiucomnionly rests
upon a sort of foundation of the same materials as those of which it is itself composed,
viz., rather coarse, often broad-blacled grass, used green, rice and barley straw, leaves
of bajera and jowar, and the like. The entrance is on one side, circular, about 2 inches
in diameter, and neatly lined throughout, together with the whole interior of the
cavity, which may average 5 inches in diameter, with fine grass-stems, the beards of
wheat (our Indian bearded wheat), and barley or rarely fine wire-like roots.
" The number of eggs laid varies much. Seven I consider to be the normal
number, but I have found onh' four hard set, and some of my correspondents have
taken ten eggs in a single nest.
" From Hoshungabad Mr. Nunn writes :—' Nest and seven eggs secured on iith
August; the former was made on the branches of a low thorn-bush, some 5 feet high,
well sheltered by leaves. This low thorn-bu.sh was growing with others at the base of
a rocky hill far from water.
" ' T h e nest was a large loose ball of grass as big as a man' s head, with a circular
lateral aperture about as big as his mouth. Eggs slightly set.'
" Mr. F. R. Blewitt thus graphically and accurately describes a very curious nest
which he kindl}/ sent me ;—' A nest of this species, which I obtained in the
neighbourhood of Raipur, was remarkable as being more compact and massive than
those of this species usually are. It was a veiy irregnlarl}' shaped nest, something in
outline like a gouty foot done up in bandages, the toe pointing downwards, and the
aperture where the leg would join on; exteriorly it was composed of coarse broadleaved
grass ; interiorl}^ of fine grass and flowering grass-stems. The walls were fully
an inch thick and verjf compact. The cavity, measured from the aperture to the
bottom, was 6 inches from the heel to the mouth of the aperture, and some 4-5 in
breadth. The whole exterior portion was composed of green grass, but the fine
lining was dry.'
" M r . Wait, writing from Cooiioor, saj's :—'Thi s little bird breeds with us anytime
between February and September, but the majority lay between April aud May.
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