IVl'lCAL MYNAHS. 



47 



second which he subseiiuently turned loose in the siime 

 aviary, 1 am not inclined to endorse Dr. Uuss's state- 

 ment as to the malice of the Crested Mynah. If lie 

 was reckless enough to associate so powerful a bird, 

 ;uid one lOj in. in length, with tiny Pinches lie had 

 nobo<ly to blame but himself. A bi<; bird may kill a 

 small one in i)lay rather than from wanton cruelty, 

 and I .should judge thisMynah ae tolerably peaceable 

 when as.sociated with birds of its own size. 



Ml'. ll(iu-<Ifii .secured mo a specimen about 1896, for 

 which I paid 30s., and although it h.is since been 

 oU'oied in the London market for about half that price, 

 1 was well content. It wa.s a most amusing bird, and 

 very fond of me, showing its affection, however, exactly 

 in the opposite mamier from my Blue-bearded Jay ; 

 for, whereas the Jay would always attack any stranger 

 who put a Hnger near his flight, the Mynah would only 

 attack me and utterly ignore a stranger. He whistled 

 clearly and tunefully and occasionally trumpeted, after 

 whifh he invarialily bowed in a ludicrous fashion, 

 making the most extraordinary rasping sound with 



('KESTED MYX.\H. 

 {From a livinr/ spcclTnen.) 



each bow ; he rarely attempted to talk, but sometimes 

 said " Joey " once or twice in a low, harsh voice, so 

 that we adojited that as his name. I fed him uixjn 

 the usual soft food with grapes, banana, apple, or 

 orange, cockroaches, mealworms, smooth caterpillars, 

 or spiders. He died on November 28, 1906, a very old 

 bird (for he was old w'hen I bought him), and regretted 

 by all who had had the pleasure of making his 

 acquaintance. 



B.\LD-HE.\DED Starling {Sarcops L-alni.<). 

 Dark glossy cinereous, blacker at base of feathers, 

 the back sometimes mostly brown or black ; a white 

 jiatch on upper part of scapulars ; wings and tail 

 black ; head naked, dull pinky-white or flesh-red, 

 excepting the lores, forehead, a line down centre of 

 crown, joining a collar which passes round the ear- 

 coverts, which are also of the same colour, the cheeks 

 and the under surface, all of which are black ; sides 

 and flanks silver-grey : under tail-coverts washed with 

 dark cinereous ; flighte below bro^vner than above ; bill 

 and feet black, toes and claws brown ; irides rufous- 

 brown or chestnut. Female similar, but said to have 

 a longer wing. Hab., Philippines and Sulu Islajids. 

 -^ Mr. J. \\Tiitehead {The /A,>, 1899, p. 241) says :— 

 '-" Quite one of the oriiitlrological features of the 

 Philippines. Like the Great Hornbill, this species has 

 also been noticed by the .Spaniards, and is known t^i 

 them as the ' Collato.' It is supposed to learn to 



imitate the human voice, and for that reason it is 

 often kept in a cage. Th« Collato is a busy, lively 

 bird, being found in nimubers in the forests when 

 its favourite food is ripe. It is also very 

 partial to dead treo-truuiks, nesting and roosting 

 111 the numerou.s Woodpeckere' borings. The 

 noise made by the wings during flight is very audible. 

 In Samar a jiair were very busy prospecting some old 

 posts within a few feet of our house, but we left before 

 they had commenced to build. The note is a peculiar 

 click, metallic but not displeasing. The species reaches 

 an elevation of 3.000 ft. in Benguet." 



In 1905 Mr. Walter Goodfellow brought home three 

 specimens of this species for Mrs. Johnstone, who pub- 

 lished an illustrated account of them in T/ie Aviculturat 

 Magazine, New Series, Vol. IV., pp. 191, 192. She- 

 says : " I feed them on an ordinary insectivorous mix- 

 ture, soaked water biscuit squeezed very dry, with ai 

 few ><idtana raisins. They are exceedingly fond of the 

 latter dainty, also oranges, which they will absolutely 

 finish witli the e.xceptioii of the peel. "They love meal- 

 worms, but seemed rather afraid of some cockroaches 

 I introduced into the aviary, killing them with sharp 

 pecks, given them as they dart down and back from an. 

 upper perch (much as I have seen my Crackles kill a 

 mouse), but they never attempted to eat them." These' 

 birds were siilisequently sent to the London Zoological 

 Gardens. 



Typical Mynahs or Crackles {Eulahdldm). 



This family is based upon the genus Eulauex = 

 M(iiii(itui<. The former name takes precedence, having, 

 been published by Cuvier in 1817. otherwise it would' 

 be a question whether, if these birds are to be separated 

 as a dietinct famdlv from the Old World Starlings, it 

 should not be called Mriinritiilm.* I first illustrated the 

 sexual differences in the bill in my little book, " How 

 to Sex Cage-Birds," p. 79. These birds have a bare 

 sort of w;attle suspended from the back of the eye and 

 passing into an almost horseshoe-like lappet running 

 from the back of the eye to the nape, and back again 

 towards the crown. 



These birds are nearly related and very much alike, 

 both in plumage and habits ; they are talented mimics, 

 and some of them (when taken young and carefully 

 trained) become excellent talkers; but they are quite 

 unsuitable for cage culture, requiring an aviary, in order 

 not only to do them justice, but to render them pleasant 

 pets. They are, however, extremely nervous, easily 

 startled, and from their excessive greed are apt to get 

 too fat — one of the most frequent causes of death with 

 these birds. The Hill Mynahs are hopping birds, not 

 progressing by walking like the more typical Mynahs. 



Southern Hill Mynah {Eulabes rcUgiom). 



Glossy purplish-black ; the lower back and upper tail- 

 coverts with green reflections ; wings and tail black, 

 the latter slightly greenish; a white patch on the 

 primaries; head glossed with green excepting on the 

 ear-coverts, the green extending on to the throat and 

 tront of neck; the chest purplish; remainder of under 

 surface black with the edges of the feathers green- 

 bill orange-yellow : wattle and lappet bright yellow 

 bluish at upper edge ; feet lemon-yellow ; irides brown 

 w'lth dark-mottled white outer edge. Female smaller 

 than male with shorter wing and much weaker bill 

 Hab., Ceylon and South India. 



Col. I^egpe I- Bird.s of Ceylon.'' Vol. II., pp. 683, 684 

 give s the folbwing account of its habits :— " This 



* The Editors of The Ibis did not see ^by^Oracula^mM 

 m,t be ret.-iined, but then what ehould we do with Graraiu™ 



