48 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



showy bird frequents high jungle and forest, being 

 especially fond ot the vicinity of rivers, and likewise ot 

 open clearings in the woods which are studded with tali 

 dead trees. In the Pasdun Karale, between the Maguru 

 Ganga and Kalatura, where it is common, it is lound 

 about native villages situated in wooded knolls, and 

 affects the kitool-palms there more than other trees. 

 Like the next species, it has a habit of launching itself 

 out into 'the air with a shrill whistle and returning to 

 its perch. Its note is higher than that of the Hill 

 Mynah and more metallic-sounding. It is caught and 

 kept as a caged bird by the natives in parts of the 

 vestern and southern provinces, and is said by them to 

 talk well. It usually associates in pairs, except when 

 .feeding on the fruit of some favourite tree, when I have 

 found it in small parties. It is not a shy bird, having 

 very little fear of a gun-shot ; indeed, I have shot several 

 out of the same tree without any member of the little 

 party taking flight. It feeds on various berries and 

 fruits, which it swallows whole. Jerdon testifies to the 

 same local propensity which i have observed to obtain 

 with it in Ceylon; he says 'It seems partially dis- 

 tributed, as you may pass through miles of forest with 

 out seeing a single specimen. It is generally found in 

 small parties of five or six, frequenting the tops of the 

 loftiest trees, and feeding on fruit and berries of various 

 kinds. I never found that insects had formed any 

 portion of its food. The song of this bird is very rich, 

 varied, and pleasing ... it is not often seen in cages 

 in India ; but it is very highly prized both for its 

 powers of song and speech, which are said to surpass 

 those of all other birds in distinctness. It has probably 

 been from erroneous information that this species was 

 named religiosa by Linnaeus, as I am not aware of its 

 being considered sacred 'by the Hindoos.' " Elsewhere 

 {"Birds of India ")' he suggest* that the great Swedish 

 naturalist probably confounded it with Acridotkeres 

 .tristi*. a bird attired in " sad-coloured " plumage, and 

 was thus led to apply to it its inappropriate title. 



" Nidificaiion. The Black Myna was breeding on the 

 Pasdun Korale on the occasion of a visit I made to that 

 part in August; but I did not procure its eggs. It 

 builds in holes, and is said not to lay its eggs on the 

 bare wood, but to line the bottom of the cavity with 

 grasses, roots, feathers, etc. Mr. Bourdillon writes that 

 in Southern India it makes its nest of straw and feathers 

 in a hole a considerable height from the ground. The 

 eggs are described as ' very gracefully elongated 

 ovals ' ; the shell is smooth arid fine, with a rather 

 faint gloss ; ground-colour greenish-blue, more or less 

 profusely spotted or ' splashed ' with purplish chocolate- 

 brown, and very pale purple. Dimensions 1.35 to 1.37 

 inch in length, by 0.87 to 0.9 inch in breadth." 



This species has been in the Amsterdam Zoological 

 Gardens since 1845, and in the London ( Jardens since 

 1866, no less than twenty examples having been ex 

 hibited by our Zoological Society between 1866 and 1895. 

 I cannot say that I ever heard one of these birds speak 

 half as distinctly as either an Amazon or a Grey Parrot ; 

 the words are intelligible, but singularly harsh and 

 ventriloquial. The earliest example I remember of this 

 species at our Gardens, perhaps t'n:> 1866 specimens, was 

 a somewhat humorous bird ; he used to chatter to him- 

 self about a cup of coffee and other matters until he 

 had collected a crowd round his cage, and then utter a 

 piercing shriek which made everybody jump ; then lie 

 would say, " What a noise to-day ! " Many years later 

 a specimen at the Gardens amused me by its stolid 

 stupidity. A friend with me was very anxious to add 

 to the accomplishments of this bird, but to all overtures 

 Vie only had two answers " What '! " and " All right ! : * 



What the name religiosa has to do with such . crow-like 

 bird it would be hard to say, and probably, after the 

 tuition which some specimens receive on boctrd ship, it 

 io sometimes a sad misnomer. 



JAVAN HILL MYNAH (E<ilubc.< /tint ///.> in). 



Considerably larger than the preceding species ; the 

 lores and sides of crown intense black ; rest of head, 

 neck, shoulders, back and under surface up to the 

 abdomen black glossed with purple, remaining plumage 

 black glossed with green ; primaries with a bread white 

 patch ; wattles and lappets large, divergent, uniting on 

 the nape in old birus. sulphur-yellow ; bill orange-ver- 

 milion tipped with yellow ; feet sulphur-yellow ; irides 

 reddish-brown (according to Russ the lappets and feet 

 are dark yellow) ; sexes differing as usual. Hab., South 

 Teuas:-erim to Malacca, Sumatra, Java;, and Borneo. 



-Mr. F. Nicholson observed this species 500 feet above 

 Estate House on Kosala (Java), feeding on Hooroo 

 madang (The Ibis, 1881, p. 153). In Sumatra he ob- 

 tained jt on the River Rawas, 1,700 feet, and describes 

 the irides as dark brown ; tip of bill orange, rest of it- 

 light red ; legs and feet orange (The Ibis. 1883, p. 254). 



Mr. C. Hore, speaking of it in Borneo (The Ibi*, 

 1893, p. 402), says : " Common everywhere, in pairs. A 

 good whistler and talker, and often trained by the 

 -Malays and Chinese. Native name ' Tiong. ' ' 



According to Russ, Dr. Hagen says that a friend of 

 hie had one of these birds for a long time in captivity, 

 and was delighted with it because " it spoke almost 

 better than the most talented Parrot. It laughed, 

 coughed, and expectorated like a human being, and 

 always with the same sounds as its master ; it crowed 

 like a cock, neighed like a horse, creaked like a door, 

 screeched like an unoiled wagon -wheel, grunted like a 

 pig, etc. If a person entered the- house it wished him 

 4 Good morning ! ' or ' Tabe Tuanku. tabe ' : it whistled 

 and called the dog if the latter barked, and so on. In 

 short, there is scarcely a bird' more entertaining than 

 the Tiong. It places its nest in the trunk of a tree, 

 preferably in old, decayed trunks of the sugar-palm, 

 and its clutch consists of four greenish-blue eggs with 

 dark splashes.'' It reached the Amsterdam Gardens in 

 1852 and the London Gardens in 1871 and 1887. 



GREATER HILL-MYNAH (Eulabc* inf<'i- media). 



Similar to the preceding species, but much smaller, 

 and with the patch of feathers extending from back of 

 eye triangular ; eyelids well-feathered ; wattles and 

 lappets bright yellow, more or less orange in front, 

 bluish near the eye; bill deep orange with yellow tip; 

 inside of mouth fleshy; feet yellow; irides brown. 

 Female smaller, the bill much weaker. Hab., Central 

 India, the Himalayas from Rumaon to Assam, Burma 

 to Tenasserim and Northern Malaysia, eastward to 

 Cochin China, and probably China and Hainan. 

 (Sharpe.) 



According to Jerdon the habits of this species do not 

 differ from those of the Southern Hfll-Mynah. This 

 bird makes a very interesting pet, its great musical 

 talent being supplemented by a capacity for learning \<> 

 talk very distinctly, though in a somewhat hoarse voice. 



I purchased an example of this species about 1892. 

 and finding it filthv in the extreme when kept in a 

 I turned it into a moderate-sized aviary with Red- 

 crested Cardinals, a Rosella Parrakeet. and one or two 

 English Starlings. It was heavy and sluggish in its 

 movements, and never interfered with the other birds. 

 From the heavy, lumpy \vay in which it dropped from 

 ]i :!( -li to ]K'rcli my wife nicknamed it "Plop." 



This bird used to reproduce every sound that it hud 



