THE STARLINGS OR MYNAHS. 49 
blue ones. There is, however, some tendency to vari- 
ation in the colour of the eyes in other Starlings. More 
than once I have seen the Common Starling in India 
with whitish eyes instead of brown ones, and I once 
saw a Bank Mynah with yellow eyes in a cage with 
several of the ordinary red-eyed ones. If such a vari- 
ation proved strongly hereditary, it would of course 
spread in time over a whole district. It would be 
very interesting to know if the differently-coloured eye in 
such cases is associated witha difference in disposition 
or constitution, and this could easily be ascertained with 
species so readily obtained and kept as the Mynahs are. 
I used to know a very tame jungle Mynah which flew 
about the Museum compound at complete liberty, and 
seldom failed to look me up early in the morning, though I 
did not usually feed him. This is undoubtedly the best 
way of keeping the common birds—to allow them 
full liberty—but they must be expected to disappear 
in time. 
THe Prep Mynau (Sturnopastor contra),commonly known 
as dbulka among the natives, is one of our most charm- 
ing birds. The figure (Fig. 4), on Plate II, gives an 
excellent idea of it, but it should be mentioned that the 
underparts below the breast are a pale grey rather than 
pure white, looking rather dirty. The base of the bill 
and the bare skin round the eyes are bright red, the tip 
of the bill being white. The legs are fleshy-white also. 
Young birds, besides having the neck streaked with 
brown, show no red about the face, and have black bills 
and legs. Curiously enough, they also have the inside 
F, GAB 4 
