48 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAC4E AND AVIARY. 



showy bird frequents high jungle and forest, being 

 especially fond ot the vicinity of rivers, and likewise of 

 open clearings in the woods which are studded with tall 

 dead trees. In the Pasdun Karale, between the ilaguru 

 Ganga and Kalatura, where it is common, it is tound 

 about native villages situated in wooded knolls, and 

 affects the kitool-palms there more than other trees. 

 Like the next species, it has a habit of launching itself 

 out into the air with a shrill whistle and returning to 

 its perch. Its note is higher than that of the riill 

 Mynah and more metallic-sounding. It is caught and 

 kept as a caged bird by the natives in parts of the 

 vestern and southern provinces, and is said by them to 

 talk well. It usually associates in pairs, except when 

 feeding on the fruit of some favourite tree, when I have 

 found it in small parties. It is not a shy bird, having 

 very little fear of a gun-shot ; indeed, I have shot several 

 out" of the same tree without any member of the little 

 party taking flight. It feeds on various berries and 

 fruits, which it swallows whole. Jerdon testifies to the 

 same local propensity which i have observed to obtain 

 with it in Ceylon ; he says ' It seems partially dis- 

 tributed, as you may pass through miles of forest with 

 out seeing a single specimen. It is generally found in 

 small parties of five or six, frequenting the tops of the 

 loftiest trees, and feeding on fruit and berries of various 

 kinds. I never found that insects had formed any 

 portion of its food. The song of this bird is very rich, 

 varied, and pleasing ... it is not often seen in cages 

 in India ; but it is very highly prized both for its 

 powers of song and speech, which are said to surpass 

 those of all other birds in distinctness. It has probably 

 been from erroneous information that this species was 

 named religiom by Linnaeus, as I am not aware of ite 

 being considea-ed sacred by the Hindoos.' " Elsewhere 

 {"Birds of India ") he euggests that the great Swedish 

 naturalist probably confounded it with Arriilotlierex 

 trifti<. a bird attired in " sad-coloured " plumage, and 

 ivas thug led to apply to it its inappropriate title. 



" yidificaiioii.— The Black Myna was breeding on the 

 Pasdun Korale on the occasion of a visit I made to that 

 part in August : but I did not procure its eggs. It 

 builds in holes, and is said not to lay its eggs on the 

 bare wood, but to line the bottom of the cavity with 

 grasses, roots, feathers, etc. Mr. Bourdillon writes that 

 in Southern India it makes it.s nest of straw and feathers 

 in a hole a considerable height from the ground. The 

 c<"'s are described as ' very gracefullv elongated 

 ovais ' ; the shell is smooth and fine, with a rather 

 faint gloss : ground-colour greenish-blue, more or less 

 profusely spotted or ' splashed ' with purplish chocolate- 

 brown, and very pale purple. Dimensions 1.35 to 1.37 

 inch in length, by 0.87 to 0.9 inch in breadth." 



This species has been in the Amsterdam Zoological 

 Gardens since 1845, and in the London Gardens since 

 1866, no less than twenty examples having been ex 

 Tiibitedbv our Zoological Society between 1866 and 1895. 

 I cannot'say that I ever heard one of these birds speak 

 "half as distinctly as either an Amazon or a Grey Parrot ; 

 the words are intelligible, but singularly harsh and 

 ventriloquial. The earliest example I remember of this 

 species at our Garde.ns, i>erhaps the 1866 specimens, was 

 a somewhat humorous bird ; he used to chatter to him- 

 self about a cup of coffee and other matters until he 

 had collected a crowd round his cage, and then utter a 



piercing shriek which made everybody jump ; then he 

 -would say, " What a noise to-day ! " Many years later 

 a specimen at xht^ Gardens amusetl me by its sitolid 

 stupidity. A friend with me was very anxious to add 

 to the accomplishments of this bird, but to all overtures 

 'he onlv had two answers—" What? " and " All right ! " 



What the name rdigiosa has to do with such a. crow-like 

 bird it would be hard to say, and probably, after the 

 tuition which some specimens receive on board ship, it 

 IS sometimes a sad misnomer. 



Jav.vn Hill Mynah (Euhibes iavunensh). 



Considerably larger than the preceding species ; the 

 lores and sides of crown intense black ; rest of head, 

 neck, sihoulders, back and imder sni-face up to the 

 abdomen black glossed with purple, remaining plumage 

 black glossed with green ; primaries with a broad white 

 patch ; wattles and lappets large, divergent, uniting on 

 the nape in old biitis. sulphur-yellow ; bill orange-ver- 

 milion tipped with yellow ; feet sulphur-yellow ; irides 

 reddish-brown (according to Russ the lappets and feet 

 are dark yellow) ; sexes differing as usual. Hab., South 

 Tenasserim to Malacca, Simiatra, Java, and Borneo. 



Mr. F. Nicholson observed this species 500 feet above 

 Estate House on Kosala (Java), feeding on Hooroo 

 madang (The Ibis, 1881, p. 153). In Sumatra he ob- 

 tained jt on the River Rawas, 1,700 feet, and describes 

 the irides as dark brown ; tip of bill orange, rest of it 

 light red ; legs and feet orange {'f/ie Ibis, 1883, p. 254). 



Mr. C. Hore, speaking of it in Borneo (The Ibis, 

 1893. p. 402), says ; " Common everywhere, in pairs. A 

 good whistler and talker, and often trained by the 

 Malays and Chinese. Native name ' Tiong.' 



According to Russ, Dr. Hagen says that a friend of 

 his had one of these birds for a long time in captivity, 

 and was delisrhted with it because " it spoke almost 

 better than the most talented PaiTot. It laughed, 

 coughed, and expectorated like a human being, and 

 always witli the same sounds as its master ; it crowed 

 like a cock, neighed like a horse, creaked like a door, 

 screeched like an unoiled wagon-wheel, grunted like a 

 pig. etf. If a person entered the house it wished him 

 ' Good morning ! ' or ' Tabe Tuanku, tabe ' ; it whistled 

 and called the dog if the latter barked, and so on. In 

 short, there is scarcely a bird more entertaining than 

 the Tiong. It places its nest in the trunk ot a tree, 

 preferably in old. decayed trunks of the sugar-i>alm, 

 and its clutch consists of four greenish-blue eggs with 

 dark splashes." It reachetl the Ain.^^terdam Gardens in 

 1852 and the London Gardens in 1871 and 1887. 



Greater Hill-Mynah (Eulahes intermedia). 



Similar to the preceding species, but much smaller, 

 and with the patch of feathers extending from back of 

 eye triangular; eyelids well-feathered; wattles and 

 lappets bright yellow, more or less orange in front, 

 bluish near the eye ; bUl deep orange with yellow tip ; 

 inside of mouth fleshy ; feet yellow ; irides brown. 

 Female smaller, the bill much weaker. Hab., Central 

 India, the Himalayas from Kiunaoii to Assam, Burma 

 to Tenasserim and Northern Malaysia, eastward to 

 Cochin China, and probably China and Hainan, 

 (Sharpe.) 



According to Jerdon the habits of this sijecies do not 

 differ from those of the Southei'n Hill-Mynah. This 

 bird makes a ven' interesting pet, its great musical 

 talent l)eing supplemented by a cap.i.city for learning to 

 talk very distinctly, though in a somewhat hoarse voice. 



I purchased an example of this species about 1892, 

 and finding it filthv in the extreme when kept in a 

 cage, I turned it into a moderate-sized aviary with Red- 

 crested Cardinals, a Rosella Parrakeet. and one or two 

 English Starlings. It was heavy and sluggish in its 

 movements, and never interfered with the other birds. 

 From the heavy, lumpy way in which it dropped from 

 perch to perch my v/ife nicknamed it " Plop." 



This bird used to reproduce every sound that it had 



