226 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



one or more of their youngsters who differed much 

 from the rest of the brood. As these youngsters grew 

 up, the differences became even more marked, they 

 showed themselves slaty grey where they should 

 have been rich brown, and pinkish buff where white 

 feathers ought to have appeared, and the climax must 

 have been reached when these weird youngsters de- 

 veloped crimson patches of skin at the sides of the 

 head, instead of yellow ones. Probably, the other 

 mynas of the locality openly expressed their disap- 

 proval of these caricatures of their species, for mynas 

 do not keep their feelings to themselves. As likely 

 as not they put these new-fangled creatures into 

 Coventry, for birds are as conservative as old maids. 



Thus these myna freaks were compelled to live 

 apart, but, being strong and healthy, they throve 

 and either paired inter se, or managed to secure mates 

 among their normally dressed fellows. In either 

 case, the offspring bore the stamp of their abnormal 

 parents. 



It is a curious fact, and one which throws much 

 light on the process of evolution, that abnormalities 

 have a very strong tendency to perpetuate themselves. 

 Thus was brought into being a new species, and as 

 there were in those times no ornithologists to shoot 

 these freaks, and as they passed with credit the test 

 prescribed by nature, the species has secured a firm 

 footing in India. This hypothesis accounts for the 

 comparatively restricted distribution of the bank 

 myna. It does not occur south of the Narbada 

 and Mahanadi Rivers, but is found all over the plains 



