FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



feathers black, externally glossed with green or purple ; 

 inner secondaries wholly green ; tail black gloesed with 

 green, the tips increasingly buff from centre to outer- 

 most feather ; crown creamy-buff, greyish on najje and 

 back of neck : sides of head, chin, and throat buff, 

 deeper in front, paler behind ; eides and front of neck 

 and breast pearl-grey, a few paler feathers on back of 

 throat; abdomen greyish-white; sidet? and flanks tawny, 

 paler behind ; thighs and under tail-coverts creamy- 

 buff ; wing-coverts and axillaries pale salmon, white 

 at base ; flights below blackish, ashy on inner edge ; 

 bill blue tipped with yellow; feet fl'eshy-grey ; irides 

 white (Oates), Mack (Darid), pearl-gr;y (Rus-s), who 

 also says the bill is grey-green and the feet horn-yellow. 

 Female not differentiated. Hab., "China, Formosa, 

 and Hainan, wintering in South China and extending 

 to Siam, Cochin China, Pegu, and even to Malacca." 

 (Sharpe.) 



According to David and Oustalet this species arrives 

 in the South of China in the summer in. multitudinous 

 flocks, and always seeks the vicinity of human dwel- 

 lings. It builds its nest in holes in the roofs. 



Mr. J. D. de la Touche (The IhU, 1892, p. 429) 

 says : " Comes to Foochow and Swatow in the spring, 

 and nests under the roofs of houses. I once noticed a 

 flock in the mangroves near Swatow at the beginning 

 of February." 



Mr. .J. C. Kershaw (The Ibis, 1904. p. 238), in an 

 article on the birds of the Quantung Coast, says : " A 

 very common spring visitor, staying to breed, and 

 leaving about the end of September." 



Messrs. La Touche and Rickett, on " The Nesting of 

 Birds in Fohkien " (Tfic Ibis. 1906, p. 39), say: "Also 

 a summer visitor, and breeding in the native city. We 

 have never, however, obtained its eggs. Some collected 

 by La Touche at Swatow (where, as well as in Hong- 

 kong, it nests in foreign-built houses) were very pale 

 blue in colour." 



Russ says this is one of the rarest birds in the market, 

 and has "hitherto onlv been in the Berlin Aquarium 

 and the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens ; as a very 

 abundant Chinese bird it is very likely to come into 

 the market at any time. 



P.\GODA Starling (TemenucJnif jjagodarum). 



Above pearl-grey ; wings, except coverts, blacki.sh, 

 edged with white near the shoulder ; secondaries more 

 or less grey ; tail dusky grey-black, tipped with 

 whiti.sh ; crown and crest greenish-black; ear-coverts 

 and sides of head buff with paler streaks; under sur- 

 face cinnamon-buff; bill slate-blue at base, greenish in 

 centre, yellow at tip ; feet bright yellow ; irides 

 greenish-white. Female similar, but smaller, and with 

 shorter crest. Hab., Afghanistan, India generally, and 

 Ceyloji. 



Jerdon says ("Birds of India," Vol. II., p. 330): — 

 " At Madras it feeds chiefly on the ground, among 

 cattle, in company with Acrid othercs fristis, picking 

 up gi'asshoppers and other insects. It also feeds on 

 trees on various fruits, berries, and flower-buds, and 

 occasionally insects. Adams says that in Cashmere it 

 feeds on the seeds and buds of pines. When the silk 

 cotton tree comes into bloom, is always to be found 

 feeding on the insects that harbour in the flowers. T 

 observed this at Jalna, and Blyth remarked the samp 

 at Calcutta. At Sladras, it breeds about large build- 

 ings, pagodas, houses, etc.. and lays three or four 

 greenish blue eggs. Mr, Philipps recoixls it as building 

 in holes of trees. It has a variety of calls, and a 

 rather pleasant song. It is frequently caged and 

 domesticated, is docile and hardy, and will imitate any 



other bird placed near it. Like the others of its tribe, 

 it is lively in its manners and actions, and has a steadv, 

 swift flight," 



Russ .says: — "The Pagoda-Starling reached the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens of Amsterdam in the year 1853. Then 

 Messrs. A. F. Wiener. E. von Schlechtendal and Prince- 

 Ferdinand of Bulgaria had it in their collections, and^ 

 here and there it has continuallj- been advertised by" 

 the wholesale dealers." It is, of course, a well-known, 

 show bird ; a specimen was purchased by our Zoo- 

 logical Society in 1893, and in September, 1901. Mr. 

 Farrar recoixled his success in breeding the species in' 

 an out<loor aviary ; the nest was formed of small sticks* 

 in a box ; the cock and hen incubated alternately about 

 thirteen days ; three young were reared. The eggs are- 

 described as " small and blue like a Starling's." 



Black-necked Mtnah (Graailipica nigricollis). 



Above brown, the feathers broadly but indistinctly 

 greyish on the borders ; rump white ; lesser wing- 

 coverts dark brown with white edges ; median and' 

 greater coverts tipped with white ; primary-coverts 

 white ; flights and tail-feathers dark brown with white- 

 tips, those of the latter broad excepting on the two 

 cent-ral feathers ; head all round white ; hind neck black, 

 followed by a narrower gi-eij'- whitish b.md : sides and 

 back of throat black, the feathers of the latter with 

 grey-whitish tips ; rest of body below white ; thighs' 

 blackish externally ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 black tipped with white ; edge of wing w-hite' ; bill' 

 red-brown ; feet yellowish ; bare orbital patch bright, 

 yellow (David) ; bill black ; feet pale silver grey ; iris 

 dark greenish brown ; naked orbital patch pale greenisK 

 yellow (Russ). Tlie female is noticeably smaller, but 

 similarly coloured. 



Hume ("Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds," Second 

 Edition, Vol. I., p. 377) says: — "All that we know 

 of the nidification of this species is contained in the- 

 following brief note by Dr. John Anderson: — 'It ha» 

 much the same habits as Sturnopastor contra var. 

 superciliaris. I found it breeding in the month of May 

 in one of the few elunips of trees at Munngla.' 



" Muangla lies to the east of Bhaino." 



Mr. J. D. de la Touche (The Ibis. 1892, p. 429) says^ 

 it is "abundant and resident at Foochow and Swatow." 



Captain S. S. Flower, de*ribing the birds of a 

 Bangkok Garden (The Ibis. 1898, p. 425) says: "The' 

 Black-necked Mynah can be seen here all the year 

 round in greater numbers than any other bird, except 

 the Crows and Sparrows. They spend most of their 

 time walking in small parties on the grass lawns in 

 search of food, and are very tame. Their handsome- 

 plumage generally attracts the attention of visitors, and' 

 we have few better songsters. They sing both when 

 on the ground and when perched on the branch of a' 

 tree, and make a great parade when singing, puffing- 

 out the chest and opening the mouth very wide. The- 

 young birds made their appearance on the la^nis with" 

 their parents in the first week in July ; their brownish 

 heads and necks give them a very different appearance- 

 from the old birds. Both this and the next species 

 make amusing and cheerful pets, and thrive in a cage."" 



Speaking of the birds of the Southern Shan States 

 {The Ibis, 1901, p. 540), Col. G. Ripi)on says that this 

 species is a giant among the Mynahs, and is very con- 

 spicuous both when flying and on the ground. He thus 

 describes the soft parts: "Iris very pale yellow; bill 

 black, lighter at culmen ; legs and feet- very pale horn- 

 coloured." It is strange how each observer describes 

 the .soft T>art« differently. 



ilr. J. C. Kershaw, describing the birds of the Quango 



