ETTLABES. 365 



524. Eulabes intermedia* (A. Hay). The Indian Grackle. 



Eulabes intermedia (A. Hay), Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 339. 



Eulabes javanensis (Osbecfy, Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 693. 



The Indian Grackle, under which name I include E. andama- 

 nensis, Tytler, breeds, I know, in the Nepal Terai and in the 

 Kumaoii Bhabur ; and many are the young birds that I have seen 

 extracted by the natives out of holes, high up in large trees, in 

 the old anti-mutiny days when we used to go tiger-shooting in 

 these grand jungles. I never saw the eggs however, which, I 

 think, must have all been hatched off in May, when we used to 

 be out. 



" In the Andamans," writes Davison, " they breed in April and 

 May, building a nest of grass, dried leaves, &c. in holes of trees." 

 He also, however, never took the eggs. 



Mr. J. E. Cripps tells us that this species is " common during 

 March to October in Dibrugarh, after which it retires to the hills 

 which border the east and south of the district. About the tea- 

 gardens of Dibrugarh there are always a number of dead trees 

 standing, and in these the Grackles nest, choosing those that are 

 rotten, in which they excavate a hole. I have seen numbers of 

 nests, but as these were so high up and the tree so long dead and 

 rotten, no native would risk going up." 



Mr. J. Inglis notes from Cachar : " This Hill-Mynah is com- 

 mon in the hilly district. It breeds in the holes of trees during 

 April, May, and June." 



Major C. T. Binghain writes from Tenasserim : " I saw several 

 nest-holes of this bird, which was very common in the Eeserve, but 

 none of them were accessible ; and it wasn't till the 18th April 

 that I chanced on one in a low tree, the nest being in the hollow 

 of a stump of a broken branch. It was composed and loosely put 

 together of grass, leaves, and twigs, and contained three half- 

 fledged young and one addled egg of a light blue colour, spotted, 

 chiefly at the large end with purplish brown." 



The eggs very similar to those of E. religiosa, but, what is very 

 surprising, it is very considerably smaller. 



0E. reliyiosa the eggs vary from 1*2 to 1*37 in length, and from 

 0-86 to 0-9 in breadth, and the average of eight is 1-31 by 0-88. 



This present egg only measures 1*12 by 0'8, and it must, I 

 should fancy, be abnormally small. 



In shape it is an extremely regular oval. The ground is a pale 

 greenish blue, and it is spotted and blotched pretty thickly at the 



* Mr. Hume does not recognize E. javanensis and E. intermedia as distinct. 

 The following account refers to the nidification of the latter, except perhaps 

 Major Bingh ana's later note, in which he states that he procured two distinct 

 sizes of eggs in the Meplay valley (Thoungyeen). It is very probable that 

 Major Bingham found the nests of both species on this occasion. I have seen 

 no specimen of E. javanensis from the Thoungyeen valley, but at Malewun, 

 further south, it occurs along with E. intermedia. ED. 



