H



Come, live with me and be my love,


And we will all its pleasures prove.


After a few days she consented and came.


I think there can be no doubt that Malabar Mynahs, like

all Starlings, are red Republicans : their sober and Quaker-like

garb reminds one instantly of one of Cromwell’s preachers.

And one could quite imagine one addressing the other as ‘ Praise

God Barebones,’ or ‘ Smite-them-liip-and thigh Amalek.’ Sober

in mind as in apparel, he sets his face steadfastly against ‘ all

the pomps and vanities of this wicked world ’—the quarrels of

Crimson-finches; the absurd dancing of Waxbills; the gaudy

appearance of Blue Mountain Rories. He holds that life is a

struggle ; he believes that Starlings, like men, are ‘ born to

labour,’ and that the whole duty of Mynahs is worms. The

Malabar, therefore, cannot be brought to see the ritilitj r of a

Manycolour’s wing patch ; the fat aldermanic deportment of the

apopletic Diamond Sparrow ; and has no patience with the silly

habit of the Mocking-bird, who spends his freedom in tuning

his voice. P'or a Turquoisine father, with a rising family, he has

some respect; but for a frivolous little Zosterops, well, he can’t,

for the life of him, see why such silly things were made. He

holds, with apologies to the author of ‘ Farm Ballads’:


Some birds were born for great things ;


Some birds were born for small ;


Some — it is not recorded

Why they were born at all.


The Malabar Mynah believes fully in leading a righteous and

sober life. He rises early, late takes rest, and eats the bread of

carefulness. He is the first to rise in the morning, and the last

to go to bed at night. He and his missus remind me of a Dutch

burgher and his frau : they are well though soberly dressed ;

well fed, of grave deportment, and so respectable that scandal

hesitates to whisper their name. They seem to say what the

Sliunamite said to Elisha : ‘ I dwell among mine own people.’

They never meddle with what does not concern them ; and

herein set us humans a good example.


My Malabars were not long over their courting; they

evidently, like our American cousins, hold with ‘ no blamed

foolishness’ of that kind. Mrs. Malabar soon said ‘Yes,’ and

then she evidently meant business. ‘ The wife is heart or head.’

as Josh Billings slily says somewhere, and we (who have tried it)

all know how persuasive the wife is—especially when she wants

something. Well, Mrs. Malabar wanted a family, and she set

about having it.



