Part 108

"About a year ago a pair took up their abode in my pigeon-cot, and although the eggs were often destroyed they would not leave the place, but continued to lay in the same nest. At last one of them was caught; the other went away, but returned the next day accompanied by a new mate. At length the hole was shut up, as they committed great depredations in the garden, and were useful only in giving a sudden sharp cry of alarm when the Mhorunghee Hawk-Eagle, a terrible enemy to Pigeons, made its appearance, thus enabling the gardeners to balk him of his intended victim."

Dr. Jerdon states that "it is most abundant on the Nilgiris, where it is a permanent resident, breeding in holes in trees, making a large nest of moss and feathers, and laying three to five eggs of a pale greenish-blue colour."

Mr. C.J.W. Taylor informs us that at Manzeerabad, in Mysore, this Myna is common everywhere, and breeds in April and May.

Captain Horace Terry notes that in the Pulney hills the Jungle Myna nests in April.

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The Ibis':--"It breeds on the Neilgherries in holes of trees. The hole is filled up with sticks to within about a foot of the entrance, and a smooth lining of paper, rags, feathers, &c. laid down, on which are deposited from two to six light blue eggs. The young are fed on small frogs, grasshoppers, and fruit. An egg measured 1·2 inch by ·88. Breeds in May."

At Dacca Colonel Tytler found them nesting in temples and houses about the sepoy lines.

Mr. J.R. Cripps tells us that at Furreedpore, in Bengal, this species is "pretty common, and a permanent resident. This species associates with A. tristis, but is seen on trees away from villages, which the latter never is. Prefers well-wooded country, whereas A. tristis never goes into jungle. On the 29th of June, 1877, I found a nest in a hole of a tree, about 12 feet off the ground. The diameter of the entrance-hole was two and a half inches, and inside it widened to six inches and about twenty inches in depth. The nest was a mere pad of grass and feathers, and contained four very slightly incubated eggs. And again on the 17th July, seeing the hole occupied, I again sent up a boy, who found another four fresh eggs. The tree formed one of an avenue leading from the house to the vats, and as men were always going along the road it surprised me to find these birds laying there; the hole had been caused by the heart of the tree rotting,"

Mr. Gates remarks of this Myna in Pegu:--"This bird does not appear to lay till about the 15th April. I have taken the eggs, and I have seen numerous nests with young ones of various ages in the middle of May. They breed by preference in holes of trees and occasionally in the high roofs of monastic buildings."

The eggs of this species, which I have from Mussoorie, Dacca, Kumaon, and the Nilgiris, approximate closer to those of Acridotheres tristis than to those of A. ginginianus. They are rather long ovals, somewhat pointed usually, but often pyriform. They are perhaps, as a rule, somewhat paler than those of either of the above-named species, and are of the usual spotless glossy type, varying in colour from that of skimmed milk to pale blue or greenish, blue. Typically, I think, they are proportionally more elongated and attenuated than those either of A. tristis, A. ginginianus or S. contra.

In length they vary from 1·03 to 1·31, and in breadth from 0·78 to 0·9; but the average of forty eggs is 1·19 by 0·83.

555. Sturnopastor contra (Linn.). The Pied Myna.

Sturnopastor contra (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 323; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 683.

The Pied Pastor, or Myna, breeds throughout the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, the eastern portions of the Punjab and Rajpootana (it does not extend to the western portions nor to Sindh), the Central Provinces, and Central India.

The breeding-season lasts from May to August, but the majority of the birds lay in June and July. It builds in trees, at heights of from 10 to 30 feet, usually towards the extremities of lateral branches, constructing a huge clumsy nest of straw, grass, twigs, roots, and rags, with a deep cavity lined as a rule with quantities of feathers. Occasionally, but very rarely, it places its nest in some huge hole in a great arm of a mango-tree. I have seen many hundreds of their nests, but only two thus situated.

As a rule these birds do not build in society, but at times, especially in Lower Bengal, I have seen a dozen of their nests on a single tree.

The nest is usually a shapeless mass of rubbish loosely put together, rough and ragged.

A note I recorded on one taken at Bareilly will illustrate sufficiently the kind of thing:--

"At the extremity of one of the branches of these same mango-trees, a small truss of hay, as it seemed, at once caught every eye. This was one of the huge nests of the Pied Pastor, and proved to be some 2 feet in length and 18 inches in diameter, composed chiefly of dry grass, but with a few twigs, many feathers, and a strip or two of rags intermingled in the mass. The materials were loosely put together, and the nest was placed high up in a fork near the extremity of a branch. In the centre was a well-like cavity some 9 inches deep by 3½ inches in diameter, at the bottom of which, amongst many feathers, lay four fresh eggs."

Five is the full complement of eggs, but they very often lay only four, and once in a hundred times six are met with.

From Hansie Mr. W. Blewitt writes that he "found numerous nests during May and June. They were all placed all keekur-trees, at heights of from 10 to 15 feet from the ground, the trees for the most part being situated on the banks of a canal or in the Dhana Beerh, a sort of jungle preserve.

"The nests were densely built of keekur and zizyphus twigs, and thickly lined with rags, leaves, and straw. Five was the greatest number of eggs that I found in any one nest."

Writing of his experience in the Delhi and Jhansi Divisions, Mr. F.R. Blewitt remarks that "the Pied Pastor breeds from June to August, making its nests between the outer branchlets of the larger lateral branches of trees, without special choice for any one kind. The nest is altogether roughly made, though some ingenuity is evinced in putting all the material of which it is composed together. Twigs, grasses, rags, feathers, &c. are all brought into requisition to form the large-made structure, which I have found, though less commonly, at a higher altitude from the ground than the 8 or 10 feet Jerdon speaks of."

Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"Breeds in Allahabad in June, July, and August; and at Delhi in May, June, and July. The nest is a large shapeless mass of straw, feathers, and rags, having a deep cavity for the eggs, which are generally five in number. The nest is almost always placed at the extreme tip of some slender branch, and there is no attempt at concealment."

Mr. J.E. Cripps tells us that at Furreedpore, in Bengal, this Myna is "very common, and a permanent resident. They eat fruit as well as insects. Lay in May and June, building their huge nests at various heights from the ground, and in any tree that comes in handy. I have generally found the nests lined with the white feathers of the paddy-birds; some of the feathers being as much as six and seven inches in length. The nests were composed principally of doob-grass; three to four eggs in each nest."

From Cachar Mr. J. Inglis writes:--"The Pied Pastor is very common all the year. It breeds during March, April, May, and June, making its nest on any sort of tree about 15 feet or more from the ground; about 100 nests may often be seen together. It prefers nesting on trees on the open fields. I do not know the number of its eggs."

The eggs are typically moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end, but pyriform and elongated examples occur; in fact, a great number of the eggs are more or less pear-shaped. Like those of all the members of this subfamily, the eggs are blue, spotless, and commonly brilliantly glossy. In shade they vary from a delicate bluish white to a pure, though somewhat pale, sky-blue, and not uncommonly are more or less tinged with green. They vary in length from 0·95 to 1·25, and in breadth from 0·75 to 0·9; but the average of one hundred eggs is 1·11 by 0·82 nearly.

556. Sturnopastor superciliaris, Blyth. The Burmese Pied Myna.

Sturnopastor superciliaris, Bl., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 683 bis.