^THIOPSAE. 383 



Colonel E. A. Butler notes : — " The Bank Myna lays about 

 Deesa in June and July. On the 26th June I lowered a man down 

 several wells, finding nests containing eggs and nests containing 

 young ones, some nearly fledged. The nests are generally in holes 

 in the brickwork, often further in than a man can reach, and several 

 pairs of birds usually occupy the same well. The eggs vary much 

 in shape and number. In some nests I found as many as five, in 

 others only two or three. In colour they closely resemble the eggs 

 of A. tristis, but they are slightly smaller, the tint is of a decidedly 

 deeper shade, and the shell more glossy. July 5th, several nests, 

 some containing eggs, others young ones. July 13th, numerous 

 nests in wells and banks, some containing fresh, others incubated 

 eggs, and others young birds of all sizes. The eggs varied in num- 

 ber from two to five. I took twenty-six fresh eggs and then 

 discontinued." 



Lieut. H. E. Barnes informs us that in Eajputana this Myna 

 breeds about May. 



The eggs are typically, I think, shorter and proportionally broader 

 than those of other kindred species already described ; very pyri- 

 form varieties are, however, common. They are as usual spotless, 

 very glossy, and of different shades of very pale sky- and greenish 

 blue. Although, when a large series of the eggs of this and each 

 of the preceding species are grouped together, a certain difference 

 is observable, individual eggs can by no means be discriminated, 

 and it is only by taking the eggs with one's own hand that one can 

 feel certain of their authenticity. 



In length they vary from 0-95 to 1'16, and in breadth from 

 0-72 to 0-87 ; but the average of forty-seven eggs is 1-05 by 0-82. 



552. .ffitMopsar fuscus (Wagl.). The Jungle Myna. 



Acridotheres fuscus ( Wagl.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 327 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. 8( E. no. 686. 



The Jungle Myna eschews the open cultivated plains of Upper, 

 Central, and Western India. It breeds throughout the Himalayas, 

 at any elevations up to 7000 feet, where the hills are not bare, and 

 in some places in the sub-Himalayan jungles. It breeds in the 

 plains country of Lower Bengal, and in both plains and hills of 

 Assam, Cachar, and Burma, and also in great numbers in the 

 Nilgiris and all the wooded ranges and hilly country of the 

 Peninsula. The breeding-season lasts from March to July, but the 

 maiority lay everywhere, I think, in April, except in the extreme 

 north-west, where they are later. 



Normally, they build in holes of trees, and are more or less 

 social in their nidification. As a rule, if you find one nest you 

 will find a dozen within a radius of 100 yards, and not unfrequently 

 within one of ten yards. But, besides trees, they readily build in 

 holes in temples and old ruins, in any large stone wall, in the 

 thatch of old houses, and even in their chimneys. 



The nest is a mere lining for the hole they select, and varies in 



