HASON AND LEFROY. 75 



almost invariably present, taking grubs and insects of all sorts. 

 On grass lands its favourite perch is on the backs of cattle, sheep or 

 goats, and sometimes ponies, from which frequent sallies are made 

 at insects disturbed by the cattle. It is said flies are captured at 

 such times, but at present I have taken no diptera from the King- 

 crow's intestines even after the bird obtained had been observed 

 apparently catching flies in this way. If a flock of Mynahs (A. 

 tristis) I have seldom seen a King-crow accompanying the Pied 

 Mynah (Sturnopastor contra) happens to be working a grass field, a 

 King-crow is almost certain to be close by or among them and cap- 

 tures insects put up by the Mynahs. Insects are then as a rule 

 taken on the wing, though grasshoppers are taken on the ground 

 and the efforts of the bird to capture insects if the grass is at all long 

 are very amusing : he is by no means active on the ground under 

 the best circumstances. If the Mynahs move off to fresh hunting 

 grounds, the King-crow accompanies them at some distance behind. 

 The fact that the King-crow does not accompany S. contra so much 

 is, I believe, partly due to the fact that that species does not work 

 such long grass as A. tristis, and the shorter grass lands do not 

 contain so many insects. As a rule, the Mynah and the King-crow 

 get on fairly well together, and the Mynahs never seem to resent 

 his presence, in spite of the fact that the King-crow is continually 

 chasing the Mynahs and robbing them of some insect. There is a 

 very interesting account in the Bombay Natural History Society's 

 Journal, XVI, pp. 364-366 (D. Dewar) of this commensalism of the 

 King-crow and the Mynah in Madras and the same habits can be 

 observed throughout Bengal, in the Central and United Provinces and 

 the Pun jab, and there is no reason to suppose one may not observe 

 the same whenever these two birds occur. Again, in company with 

 Mynahs, King-crows frequently accompany cattle, etc., walking 

 through grass-lands and open jungle, taking insects as they are put 

 up. Two species of moths taken under such conditons are Trigonodes 

 hyppasia and Plecoptera reflexa : grasshoppers and moths form the 

 greater proportion of insects taken under these conditions. If the 

 cattle are going in one direction, the birds keep more or less up 



