A BIRD OF CHARACTER 97 



perfectly tame, showing no fear of man, and readily- 

 accepting food from the hand. 



Young nestlings display no fear of man, and do not 

 appear to mind being handled by a human being ; but 

 as they grow older they learn to fear all strange 

 creatures, hence it is that captive birds taken from 

 the nest are always tamer than those which are 

 caught after they are fledged. It was amusing to see 

 the way in which my young mynas ran towards the 

 chaprassi when he called " Puppy, puppy." " Puppy " is 

 apparently a term applied by native servants indis- 

 criminately to any kind of pet kept by a sahib, 



Mynas make excellent pets because they are so alert 

 and vivacious, and, above all, because they have so 

 much character. 



A myna is a self-assertive bird, a bird that will stand 

 no nonsense. 



I know of few things more amusing than to witness a 

 pair of mynas give a snake a bit of their minds as they 

 waltz along beside it in a most daring manner. 



Owing to the self-assertion of the myna he is apt to 

 be quarrelsome. 



Street brawls are, I regret to say, by no means 

 uncommon. In these two or three mynas attack one 

 another so fiercely that they get locked together and 

 roll over and over — a swearing, struggling ball of brown, 

 yellow, and white. 



The myna, although by no means a songster, is able 

 to emit a great variety of notes, all of which must be 

 familiar to every Anglo-Indian. 



A bird which can produce a large number of sounds 

 H 



