102 Private Importation of Indian Birds in igi6. 



tion (jl it takes to its wind's and indulges in a little flight purely for 

 the fun of tire thing. Tlie llock sumetimes returns to tlie original 



" plough, at others transfers its attentions to another. Thus the flocks 

 are continually changing in number and personnel, and in this respect 

 are \'er\- difterent from the com])anies of se\-en sisters. The latter 

 appear to be dehnile clubs or societies, the former mere chance 

 Collections ol individuals, or probably pairs of indi\'iduals 



15;ink mynas arc so calletl because they invariably nest in 

 sandbanks, in the sides of a well, or some such locality, the\- them- 

 selves e.\c;u'ating the nest hole. Like sand martins, bank mynas 

 breed in considerable companies, but they are not so obliging as re- 

 " gardi- the season of their niditication. They usually select sites 

 which arc not only a' n d.ist.ince liom human h iljiations, but difficult 

 ol ai'cess, and, as the birds tlo not begin to nest until well on in 



"May, when the weather in u|)pcr India i^ too hot to be described in 



"literary language one doe.s not often line a chance of seeing the birds 

 at work. Their nesting passages do not necessarily run inv\'ards in 

 a straigh' line. The result is that neighbouring ones often communi- 

 cate Ca-it otif snake skin is a lining ])articularly sought after. Mr. 



" Jessr informs us that from one of these nests in the bank of the 

 Goomti, near LiK'knou-, he extracted part of a Latin exercise and some 

 arithmetic questions. The owners of the nest were not going in for 

 highci education : it wa-^ merely a cas'e of jjutting a tiling to a use 

 for which it was never intended, a feat at which both birds and 

 Indian servants are adepts. Notwithstanding the fact tliat the egg'^ 

 are laid in dark places, tlicy are blue, like thi>se of the other 

 mynas. 'S'oung bank mynas of all species have a rather mangy ap- 

 pearance. Like port wine, they impro\'e with age.'' 



To the above vivid chapter of Indian Alvnn life I will 

 only add. that in the aviary their strutting and e.Kritcd i;;iT'''d- 

 ousness is certainly l^oth interesting and anuising. While they 

 will take as many insecTs as you care to supply, but will e\isl 

 and thrive without — the individuals noted in these notes ha\e 

 not had any, save such as they captured for themselves in the 

 aviary , They certainly show a preference ftjr ground larvae, 

 and arc at once busy when a patch in the aviary is turned 

 over for their benefit, not even despising earthworms, though 

 large ones as a rule are left severely alone. With me their 

 principal dietary has been insectile niixture, fruit, ami the stiff 

 portion of the milk sop put in for- other species. I ha\-c not 

 observed them at the seed pans. 



As lalready stated all four birds are now in \ery tine 

 form, and I shall hopie to describe more t)f their doings and 

 characteristics in captivity in a later issue. 



(To be continued). 



