White-headed munia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Lonchura
Species:
L. maja
Binomial name
Lonchura maja
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms

Loxia maja Linnaeus, 1766

The white-headed munia (Lonchura maja) is a species of estrildid finch found in Teladan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This species is also introduced to Portugal. It is found in wetlands habitat. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Taxonomy

The white-headed munia was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia maja.[2] Linnaeus cited George Edwards's "The Malacca Gros-beak" and Mathurin Jacques Brisson's "Le Maia de la Chine".[3][4] The English naturalist John Ray used the word "Maia" for a Cuban bird in 1768.[5][6] Linnaeus specified the locality as East India. This was amended to Malacca in 1924.[7] The white-headed munia is now placed in the genus Lonchura that was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832.[8][9] It is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[9]

Description

Smallish (11 cm), white headed brown finch. Similar to the chestnut munia but paler brown and entire head and throat white. Young birds are brown on upperparts with underparts and face buff. Iris-brown; bill-grey; feet-pale blue. Voice: high-pitched 'pee-pee'.

Distribution and status

Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Bali and Celebes. In Java and Bali this is a fairly common and widespread bird up to 1500 m.

Behaviour

It frequents marshes and reedbeds. Like other munias form large flocks during rice harvest but spread out in pairs during breeding season. General behaviour similar to other munias.

Feeding

Rice and Grass seeds.

Breeding

Four to five, occasionally six, white eggs are laid in a typical munia ball-shaped grass nest. Breeding is recorded in West Java for February.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Lonchura maja". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22719851A94647970. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22719851A94647970.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 301.
  3. ↑ Edwards, George (1760). Gleanings of Natural History, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants &c... (in English and French). Vol. Part 2. London: Printed for the author, at the College of Physicians. p. 202 Plate 306 fig. 1.
  4. ↑ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 212–213, Plate 9 fig. 2.
  5. ↑ Willughby, Francis (1678). Ray, John (ed.). The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick. London: John Martyn. p. 386.
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 381.
  8. ↑ Sykes, William Henry (1832). "Catalogue of birds of the raptorial and insessorial orders (systematically arranged,) observed in the Dukhun". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 2 (18): 77-99 [94].
  9. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 16 July 2021.


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