GBACULIPICA. — ACRIDOTHERES. 377 



54G. Graculipica nigricollis (Payk.). The Black-necked Myna. 



All that we know of the nidilication of this species is contained 

 in the following brief note by Dr. John Anderson : — 



"It has much the same habits as Sturnojxistor contra var. super- 

 ciliaris. I found it breeding in the month of May in one of the few 

 clumps of trees at Muangla." 



Muaugla lies to the east of Bhamo. 



549. Acridotheres tristis (Linn.). The Common Myna. 



Acridotberes tristis (Linn.), Jcnl. B. Ind. ii, p. 325; Hume, Ronqh 

 Draft N. ^ E. no. 684. 



The Common Myna breeds throughout the Indian Empire, 

 alike in the plains and in the hills. A pair breed yearly in the roof 

 of my verandah at Simla, at an elevation of 7800 feet. 



They are very domestic birds, and greatly affect the habitations 

 of man and their immediate neighbourhood. They build in roofs 

 of houses, holes in walls, trees, and even old wells, in the earthen 

 chatties that in some parts the natives bang out for their use 

 (as the Americans hang boxes for the Purple Martin), and, though 

 very rarely, once in a way on the branches of trees. 



Captain Hutton says : — " This is a summer visitor in the hills, 

 and arrives at Mussoorie with the A. ftiscus, Wagl. It builds in 

 the hole of a tree, which is lined with dry grass and feathers, and 

 on no occasion have I ever seen a nest made on the branches of a 

 tree composed of twigs and grains as stated by Captain Tickell. 



But in this instance Captain Tickell may have been right, for I 

 have once seen such a nest myself, and Mr. R. M. Adam writes : — 

 " Near Sambhur, on the 7th July, I saw a pair of this species 

 building a large cup-shaped nest in a babool tree ; " while Colonel 

 Gr. F. L. Marshall affirms that this species '■^frequently lays in 

 cup-shaped nests of sticks placed in trees, like small Crows' nests." 

 And he subsequently writes : — " I can distinctly reaffirm what I 

 said as to this species building a nest in the fork of a tree. In the 

 compound of Kalunder gari choki, in the Boluudshahr district, I 

 found no less than five of these nests on one day ; the compound is 

 densely planted with sheeshum trees, which were there about twenty 

 feet high, and the nests were near the tops of these trees. I found 

 several other similar nests on the canal-bank, one with young on 

 the 11th September." 



Also writing in this connection from Allahabad, Major C. T. 

 Bingham says : — 



" Twice I have found the nest of this bird in trees, but it 

 generally builds in holes, both in trees and walls, and commonly in 

 the thatch of houses. Once I got a couple of eggs from a nest made 

 amidst a thick-growing creeper." 



Neglecting exceptional cases like these, the nest is a shapeless but 

 warm lining to the hole, composed chiefly of straw and feathers 



