Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/188

174 The Ploceidce are divisible into two subfamilies, the Ploceince or Weaver-birds and the Viduince or Manias. First primary about as long as the tarsus ; a partial spring moult Ploceince, p. 174.

First primary very minute, much shorter than tarsus ; no spring moult Viduince, p. 181.

Subfamily PLOCEIN^E.

The PloceincK or Weaver-birds comprise a large number of birds which are found in Africa and South-eastern Asia. They are Finch-like in structure and appearance, but they differ from the Finches in having ten primaries and in undergoing a partial spring-moult.

The Weaver-birds are gregarious, breeding in company, and associating at other seasons in large nocks. They construct elaborate nests of grass which are suspended from the branches of trees or attached to the stalks of tall reeds. The eggs are either two or three in number, in the genus Ploceus pure white, in Ploceella of various colours.

The males of these birds have a distinct summer and winter plumage, and the former is acquired by a moult of the feathers of those parts which undergo a change of colour. The moult in the spring is thus apparently partial.

All the Weaver-birds are sedentary in their habits, fearless of man in the breeding-season, but more wary at other times. They feed largely on grain and seeds. They have no song, but they keep up a ceaseless chirping in the breeding-season, especially when the building of the nest is in progress.

The Asiatic Weaver-birds form two well-defined genera, differing in structure and their mode of nidification, as well as in the colour of their eggs.

Key to the Genera.

a. Bill considerably longer than it is high ; no nuchal hairs ; difference between length of wing and length of tail more than length of tarsus PLOCEUS, p. 174.

b. Bill as long as it is high ; nuchal hairs present ; difference between length of wing and length of tail much less than length of tarsus PLOCEELLA, p. 179.

Genus PLOCEUS, Cuvier, 1817.

The genus Ploceus contains the true Weaver-birds, which construct flask-shaped nests with a tubular entrance, varying in length from two feet to a few inches. The eggs are in all cases white. In this genus the males acquire a yellow crown in the spring, and