386 



another four fresh eggs. The tree formed one of an avenue leading 

 from the house to the vats, and as men were always going along 

 the road it surprised me to find these birds laying there ; the hole 

 had been caused by the heart of the tree rotting." 



Mr. Gates remarks of this Myna in Pegu: " This bird does not 

 appear to lay till about the 15th April. I have taken the eggs, 

 and I have seen numerous nests with young ones of various ages 

 in the middle of May. They breed by preference in holes of 

 trees and occasionally in the high roofs of monastic buildings.' 7 



The eggs of this species, which I have from Mussoorie, Dacca, 

 Kumaon, and the Nilgiris, approximate closer to those of Acrido- 

 theres tristis than to those of A. ginginianus. They are rather long 

 ovals, somewhat pointed usually, but often pyriform. They are 

 perhaps, as a rule, somewhat paler than those of either of the 

 above-named species, and are of the usual spotless glossy type, 

 varying in colour from that of skimmed milk to pale blue or 

 greenish blue. Typically, I think, they are proportionally more 

 elongated and attenuated than those either of A. tristis, A. 

 ginginianus^ or S. contra. 



In length they vary from 1-03 to 1*31, and in breadth from 0*78 

 to 0-9 ; but the average of forty eggs is 1-19 by 0-83. 



555. Sturnopastor contra (Linn.). The Pied Myna. 



Sturnopastor contra (Linn.}. Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. p. 323 : Hume. Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 683. 



The Pied Pastor, or Myna, breeds throughout the North- Western 

 Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, the eastern portions of the Punjab and 

 Rajpootana (it does not extend to the western portions nor to 

 Sindh), the Central Provinces, and Central India. 



The breeding-season lasts from May to August, but the majority 

 of the birds lay in June and July. It builds in trees, at heights of 

 from 10 to 30 feet, usually towards the extremities of lateral 

 branches, constructing a huge clumsy nest of straw, grass, twigs, 

 roots, and rags, with a deep cavity lined as a rule with quantities 

 of feathers. Occasionally, but very rarely, it places its nest in 

 some huge hole in a great arm of a mango-tree. I have seen 

 many hundreds of their nests, but only two thus situated. 



As^ a rule these birds do not build in society, but at times, 

 especially in Lower Bengal, I have seen a dozen of their nests on 

 a single tree. 



The nest is usually a shapeless mass of rubbish loosely put to- 

 gether, rough and ragged. 



^ A note I recorded on one taken at Bareilly will illustrate suffi- 

 ciently the kind of thing : 



" At the extremity of one of the branches of these same mango- 

 trees, a small truss of hay, as it seemed, at once caught every eye. 

 This was one of the huge nests of the Pied Pastor, and proved to be 

 some 2 feet in length and 18 inches in diameter, composed chiefly 



