374 



The first two eggs measure -82 x '62 and -85 x '63 ; the second lot 

 measure 1-01 X '7, I'O X '7, and 1-0 X '7. 



" The eggs are very glossy, and the colour is a uniform dark 

 greenish blue, of much the same tint as the egg of Acridotheres 



543. Ampeliceps coronatus, Blyth. The Gold-crest Myna. 



Ampeliceps coronatus, -B/., Hume, Rough Draft N. 8f E. no. 693 

 sex j id. Cat. no. 693 ter. 



Of the nidification of this beautiful species, the Gold-crest Myna, 

 we possess but little information. My friend Mr. Davison, who 

 has secured many specimens of the bird, v\ rites : "On the 13th 

 April, 1874, two miles from the town of Tavoy, on a low range of 

 hills about 200 feet above the sea-level, I found a nest of the Gold- 

 crest Grakle. The nest was about 20 feet from the ground in a 

 hole in the branch of a large tree. It was composed entirely of 

 coarse dry grass, mixed with dried leaves, twigs, and bits of bark, 

 but contained no feathers, rags, or such substances as are usually 

 found in the nests of the other Mynas. The nest contained three 

 young ones only a day or two old." 



544. Temenuchus pagodarum (Gm.). The Black-headed Myna. 



Temenuchus pagodarum (Gm.), Jerd. E. 2nd. ii, p. 329; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 687. 



The Pagoda or Black-headed Myna breeds throughout the more 

 open, dry, and well-wooded or cultivated portions of India. In Sindh 

 and in the more arid and barren parts of the Punjab and Eajpoo- 

 tana on the one hand, or in the more humid and jungly localities 

 of Lower Bengal on the other, it occurs, if at all, merely as a 

 seasonal straggler. How Adams, quoted by Jerdon (vol. ii, 

 p. 330), could say that he never saw it in the plains of the North- 

 West Provinces (where, as a matter of fact, it is one of our 

 commonest resident species), altogether puzzles me. 



Neither in the north nor in the south does it appear to ascend 

 the hills or breed in them at any elevations exceeding 3000 or 

 4000 feet. 



The breeding-season lasts from May to August, but in Upper 

 India the great majority lay in June. 



According to my experience in Northern India it nests exclusively 

 in holes in trees. Dr. Jerdon says that "at Madras it breeds 

 about large buildings, pagodas, houses, &c." This is doubtless 

 correct, but has not been confirmed as yet by any of my Southern 

 Indian correspondents, who all talk of finding its nest in holes 

 of trees. 



The whole is thinly lined with a few dead leaves, a little grass, 

 and a few feathers, and occasionally with a few small scraps of 

 some other soft material. 



They lay from three to five eggs. 



