THE S'TARLINGS OR MYNABS. Dye 
common Pawi and reminds one of a miniature Sea-gull, 
being white with a pale grey back and black quills. It 
makes a nice aviary bird, having a pretty note as well as 
striking plumage. 
The ordinary grey-headed species has nothing parti- 
-cular to recommend it in that capacity, nor is it a parti- 
‘cularly interesting bird in a wild state. It spends most 
of its time in the trees, feeding on fruit, though it will 
sometimes come down on the ground and run about 
after insects like other Mynahs. But it cannot pretend to 
compare with them either in attractiveness or utility. 
THe Hitt Mynan (Eulabes intermedia) is typical of a 
group of Mynahs. sometimes—as in the Fauna of British 
India volumes—ranked as a distinct family, which keep to 
the trees altogether and feed entirely on fruit. They do 
not affect human habitations at all, build in holes in 
trees, laying spotted eggs, and are not able to walk 
like the ordinary Mynahs, progressing on the ground only 
by hops. The well-known species mentioned above is a 
very heavy, thick-set bird, with short wings and tail, deep 
short bill and short strong legs and feet. The head 
has a band of bare skin on each side, irregular in outline 
and ending in loose flaps at the back. The length of the 
bird is about a foot; its plumage is black, richly glossed 
with purple and green, and with a white band on the 
pinion-quills. The billis rich orange-red, and the feet and 
bare skin of the head bright yellow ; the eyes are dark. 
Young birds have a dead-black plumage, and the bare 
skin on the head lies close throughout, and does not end 
in the loose flaps behind. 
