230 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



nesting passages do not necessarily run inwards in a 

 straight line. The result is that neighbouring ones 

 often communicate. At the end of the passage is a 

 circular chamber which is lined with grass and any- 

 thing else portable. Cast-off snake skin is a lining 

 particularly sought after. Mr. Jesse informs us that 

 from one of these nests in the bank of the Goomti, 

 near Lucknow, he extracted parts of a Latin exercise 

 and some arithmetic questions. The owners of the 

 nest were not going in for higher education ; it was 

 merely a case of putting a thing to a use for which it 

 was never intended, a feat at which both birds and 

 Indian servants are great adepts. Notwithstanding 

 the fact that the eggs are laid in dark places, they are 

 blue, as are those of the other mynas. Young bank 

 mynas lack the red skin at the side of the head, and 

 are brown in places where the adults are black. Young 

 mynas of all species have a rather mangy appearance. 

 Like port wine, they improve with age. 



