The Philippine chestnut weaver, or rice bird, is abundant throughout the Islands. It is extremely social in its habits and in many cases a dozen of its globular nests may be found within a radius of a few meters.
The nests are frequently built among the branches of a common species of pandanus which grows on sandy beaches. Chestnut weavers in great numbers, and Munia cabanisi, Padda oryzivora, and Uroloncha everetti in lesser numbers, are captured in nets and sold, either in the Manila markets for food or on the streets as cage-birds.
“This chestnut weaver finch feeds in large flocks and is much prized by some of the inhabitants as an article of food, its small size being compensated for by the fact that a score can be killed at one discharge of a gun. It seems to breed throughout the year; its bulky nest is placed in the grass, and is composed entirely of grass stems and leaves; the entrance is a round opening at the side. The eggs are pure white and more or less globular; from six to ten eggs are deposited in a set.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
702. MUNIA FORMOSANA Swinhoe.
FORMOSAN WEAVER.
- Munia formosana Swinhoe, Ibis (1865), 366; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 338; Grant, Ibis (1895), 112; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 242; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 105.
Luzon (Whitehead). Formosa.
Adult.—This species is very similar to M. jagori from which it may be distinguished by its smoky brown head and neck; fore part of crown and sides of face blacker. The measurements of the type as given by Sharpe and changed to millimeters are: Length, 96.5; culmen, 11.4; wing, 48; tail, 35.5; tarsus, 15.
“Munia formosana Swinhoe, of which a specimen was recorded from Isabela, north Luzon, appears to be a distinct pale-colored form, the head, even in freshly-molted male examples, being of a dark smoky brown. In addition to the specimens recorded in the Catalogue of Birds, I have examined a number of Formosan examples of this species in the Seebohm collection.” Grant, Ibis (1896), 554.