robbed him of so rare and charming a bird is the more to be regretted, as they would 

 undoubtedly have bred this coming season. I at once saw the bird was a very rare and 

 uncommon species and formed the opinion that it was a near ally or variety of T. 

 murinus— owing to physical infirmity I was unable to go over to the Museum, so as soon 

 as the skin came back from the taxidermists (Mr. S. kindly permitting me to retain same), 

 I sent it on to the Museum, and the authorities there are of the opinion that it is probably 

 a new species, and they place it as a near ally of T. serranus. As the Museum authorities 

 expressed a desire for the skin, I have in turn donated it to them, and we may hope to 

 have it properly named at some near date. I have given it the trivial name at head of the 

 article. — Ed. 



ZTbe flDalabar Starling. 



Poliopsar malabaricus. 

 By Miss M. E. Baker. 



Although the Malabar Starling is not a brightly coloured 

 bird, it certainly is a very pretty one. The principal colouration 

 is grey, suffused with a red-brown shade ; the head of the male is 

 almost white, beak yellow, and the eyes very light grey. 



The colouration of the female is very similar, practically 

 the only difference being that the breast and head are a little 

 darker in hue. 



My pair of Malabars are most interesting and amusing 

 birds, passionately fond of mealworms ; whenever I pass the 

 aviary, they always come to the front and look round to see 

 if I have a mealworm for them ; they are very disappointed if 

 this is lacking, and there is quite an excited chattering and 

 running about before they fly away to their usual perch at the 

 top of the aviary. 



The Malabars agree well with the other birds in the aviary, 

 except a Glossy Starling, they steal his mealworms and annoy 

 him exceedingly, and I am afraid they will suffer for it some day. 



Last year they built a nest and hatched out four young 

 chicks. I had no idea they were building, and was much surprised 

 to hear the young calling for food ; it was difficult to locate the 

 nest, so I invoked the gardener's assistance almost expecting to 

 find mice, the calling of the young so much resembled the 

 squeaking of these aviary pests. He lifted a large nest out of the 

 box, and in it were four lovely little Malabars. 



I quickly had the nest put back and almost immediately 



