'in JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HtSTOR'^ SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



I believe both this and the next species differ from the genus Sturnia in 

 having the young not brown but very similar to the adults (see remarks on 

 next speciesj. Mr, Hume says that his party preserved nearly fifty old and 

 young, and shot altogether nearly a hundred. He then proceeds to give a 

 very careful description of the adult, but says nothing whatever about any 

 brown young birds. His collection was made too in the earlier part of the 

 year when these would be about. 



541. Sturnia erythkopygia, Blyth. Gates, I, p. 529j "Str. Feath." II, 

 p. 248. 



This species was described by Blyth in 1846 ; in 1873 Mr. Hume's party 

 obtained a specimen, now in the British Museum, on Car Nicobar island. 

 Mr. Gates says that no other specimen has been procured by any naturalist 

 since. 



The fact is that this extremely little-known Myna is peculiar to the one 

 island of Car Nicobar, which lies by itself to the north of the other groups, 

 and on this island it is quite a common bird. I brought away 27 

 skins, some very good and some indifferent specimens. In action, habits, 

 notes, etc., it exactly resembles the common S. andamanensis , except that it is^ 

 from the nature of the island it inhabits, entirely arboreal, while S. andama- 

 nensis feeds as much on the ground as Acridotheres tristis. There is not a 

 yard of open grass on Car Nicobar, except the savannahs covered with rank 

 grass three feet in height, so that a Myna cannot possibly find the smallest 

 piece of turf to walk on. The Nicobar Myna feeds almost entirely on berries 

 and fruits, though I once or twice saw it capture an insect on the wing. 

 During the day these Mynas disperse in pairs and small parties to feed, col- 

 lecting in large flocks in the evening to return to roost. These large flocks, 

 often of three or four hundred birds, invariably used to pitch on some tall 

 and gnarled old Casuarina trees, growing at the edge of a low cliff beneath 

 tvhich the surf was breaking in great sheets of white spray. Many of the 

 birds shot on these trees dropped into the sea and were lost. 



I am inclined to think they breed chiefly at the beginning of the year, 

 probably from February to May. I saw a pair frequenting a hole in a 

 pandanus which contained an old nest, composed of pieces of grass and 

 cocoanut fibre. They must breed chiefly in holes in the pandanus and 

 Casuarina trees. 



The chesnut on the plumage of this bird shows very conspicuously in 

 flight, and it could be distinguished from S. andamanensis, did the two occur 

 in the same locality, at a considerable distance. 



It is rather a shy bird, and flocks after being once or twice fired at 

 become very wary indeed. 



The following description is from my series of twenty-seven birds : — 



Adult (nine males and five females), — Entire head, neck, breast and abdomen 

 cream-colour, with a pale yellowish tinge, moat pronounced on crown and neck, 



