THE STARLINGS OR MYNAHS. ' 49 



hereditary, it would of course spread in time over a whole 

 district. It would be very interesting to know if the 

 differently-coloured eye in such cases is associated with 

 a difference in disposition or constitution, and this could 

 easily be ascertained with species so readily obtained and 

 kept as the Mynahs are. 



I used to know a very tame jungle M3niah which flew 

 about the Museum compound at complete liberty, and 

 seldom failed to look me up early in the morning, though I 

 did not usually feed him. This is undoubtedly the best 

 way of keeping the common birds — ^to allow them full 

 liberty — but they must be expected to disappear in time. 



The Pied Mynah (Sturnopastor contra), commonly 

 known as Abulht among the natives, is one of our most 

 charming birds. The figure (Fig. 4), on Plate II, gives 

 an excellent idea of it, but it should be mentioned that the 

 underparts below the breast are a pale grey rather than 

 pure white, looking rather dirty. The base of the bill 

 and the bare skin round the eyes are bright red, the tip 

 of the bill being white. The legs are fleshy- white also. 

 Young birds, besides havhig the neck streaked with 

 brown, show no red about the face, and have black bills 

 and legs. Curiously enough, they also have the inside 

 of the mouth orange, while in the old ones this is as black 

 as if they had been drinking ink. 



This is one of our commonest birds, being found over 

 India generally ; in Burma it is replaced by a very closely 

 allied species or variety {Sturnopastor superciliaris) 

 differing merely in having white streaks on the forehead 

 and over the eyes. It is more inclined to go in flocks 

 F, GAB 4 



