Private Importation of Indian Birds in iqi6. Of) 



may breed witli him this season. Th^'v are too well known to 

 need description, so { will merely describe them as glossy 

 black, variegated with glistening areas of purplish and steely- 

 green, with a white wing-bar; the bill, eye and face wattles 

 and feet are orange-chrome. 



In its native haunts it frecjuents forest regions, and is 

 usualh met with in small companies of about six individ- 

 uals and at others in quite large flocks. It feeds 

 almost exclusively on fruit and berries, and also insects, that 

 is judging from the a\-idity with which it takes these in 

 captivity. It breeds in holes in trees and the season extends 

 from March to October. Its song contains rich and varied 

 notes intermingled with short harsh periods. 



Thk Rank Mv\.\h {Acridoth^res frin^inianus) : This 

 is distinctly a ijleasing and interesting species, and I was very 

 surprised to find that they did not appear to appeal to avicul- 

 turists — true several aviculturists. to whom this class of bird 

 appeals, have closed down their aviaries till the end of the war, 

 or are merely keeping them going for what birds they have 

 and arr- not adding thereto — but even in moderate-sized aviaries 

 they seldom bully the smaller inmates, and are distinctly 

 pleasing birds (in the writer's opinion), and nearly always 

 in the picture. 



I think eight were shipped and thib number arrived 

 alive — four of them were in vigorous and robust condition, 

 the others much less so, being apparently very livery. The 

 former have- thri\en and are now perfect and fine specimens. 

 afte;- spending th? v\ inter out of doors; the others died off at 

 intervals during the autumn and winter. 



Instead of writing further about these birds myself I 

 purpose rejM-inting my friend. Mr. Douglas Dewar's, account 

 of them from his " Glimpses of Indian Birds," a book which 

 should be read again and again by all lovers of Indian birds. 



"The bank Myr.a > Ac/iJol/u-rr- '^in^inianus \, like the Indian 



'■ corljy iC-oiviis inacrorhynrhus, is a bird th.-it has suffered neg'lecf 



at the hands of tliose \vh(j write about feathered folk. The reason 



for this is ofjvious. Even as the h(juse crow iCorvus splctidens) 



"overshadows the corby, so does the common myna i.A. irisiis) al- 



" most eclipse the bank myna. So familiar is the myna that all books 



