INTRODUCTION. 113 
yellow wattles which project from its head, which, with the 
body, is of a fine velvety black. It attracts the ear not only 
by its very loud note, but frequently by the sentences it articu- 
lates, for it can be easily taught to speak. This is the Grackle 
or Myna of India (Lulabes religiosa, fig. 122). There are at 
least five species of the genus, and it is the type of a family-group 
of Birds of about ninety-three different kinds, all of which are 
Fig. 121. 

The Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphaga erythrorhyncha), 
inhabitants of the Old World. The Grackles are mainly 
dwellers in hill-forests, dwelling in the highest trees, living on 
fruit, and never descending to the ground. 
This noisy bird may recall to mind our noisy and bright, 
though very differently coloured, Jay (Garrulus glandarius) ; it 
is the type of a large group of Birds—the family of Crows— 
numbering about a hundred and sixty-four species, some or other 
of which are to be found in most parts of the world. Amongst 
I 
