32 COMMON BIRDS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



tiffs over the possession of specially delectable worms 

 or insects in total forgetfulness of the fact that 

 they are labouring for a common end. When either 

 of them has collected as much as its bill will hold 

 it comes in, generally pausing at the brim of the 

 nest to answer the eager cries of the young birds 

 with one or two cheerful notes, before proceeding 

 to feed them and then emerge to sail off once more 

 on widespread, white-barred wings in quest of fresh 

 supplies. They are very attentive to their young, 

 and carefully escort and feed them long after 

 they are well able to provide for themselves. Such 

 family parties are for some time readily recognisable, 

 owing to the colouring of the young birds and to 

 the fact that the latter every now and then make 

 exorbitant and wholly unreasonable demands to be 

 fed. In many cases the association would seem to 

 last up to the next breeding season, as, all through 

 autumn and the early half of winter, mynas are 

 very often to be found going about in small parties 

 that may well represent one or two parents with 

 a brood of the previous season. 



The only other representatives of the Sturnidce 

 that are permanent residents of the immediate 

 vicinity of Calcutta are the pied starlings, Sturno- 

 pastor contra. They are not nearly such attractive 

 birds as the common mynas ; for their colouring is 

 coarsely laid on in a way that recalls that of certain 

 of the ornithological inmates of a Noah's ark ; their 



