GRAKLES. 



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Others attend flocks of cattle which they follow while grazing, picking up the 

 grasshoppers disturbed by their feet, while others hunt after grain or fruit. 

 This myna walks well, nodding his head at each step, and occasionally hops. 

 Its flight is strong, direct, and tolerably quick. It has a great variety of notes 

 —some of them pleasing and musical, others harsh with a metallic sound. 

 One of its notes has been represented by "■ Prm'kh, praikh /" another, pro- 

 nounced when flying, by '" Twee, twee ! " " The common myna may be said to 

 be a household bird : it breeds almost exclusively under the roofs and eaves of 

 houses, in holes in walls, or m pots hung out for that purpose by the natives. 

 The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale bluish green. This myna is 

 very commonly caged and domesticated, and becomes very tame and familiar 

 — following its master about the house like a dog. It is a good imitator, and 

 soon learns to pronounce words and sentences." — Jerdon. 



Gkakle {Gracula coronata). 



Another species, called — 



The Paradise Grakle {Graatla iristis), also a native of India and the 

 Philippine Islands, is very voracious, and particularly fond of locusts and 

 grasshoppers. In connection with these birds, Buffon relates the following 

 instructive anecdote : " The Isle of Bourbon, where they were unknown, was 

 overrun with locusts, which had been unfortunately introduced from Mada- 

 gascar, their eggs having been imported in the soil brought with some plants 

 from that island. In consequence of this, the Governor and the Intendant 

 deliberated anxiously on the means of exterminating these noxious insects, 

 and for that purpose caused several pairs of grakles to be introduced into the 

 island. The plan promised to succeed, but unfortunately some of the colonists 

 observing the birds eagerly thrusting their bills into the earth of the new-sown 



