ACRIDOTHERES. 355 



Length. 9 inches ; wing 475 ; tail 275 ; culmen ri ; tarsus 1-25, 

 Hab. Nearly throughout the Indian Peninsula, except in the South and 

 South-West. Jerdon says it is found throughout Bengal up to the foot of the 

 Himalayas. Ic is said to be more common in the Northern Circars than any- 

 where else, thence inland to Hydrabad, Nagpore, and Sangor (Central 

 Provinces) and through Bundelcund to Allahabad. It breeds, according to 

 Hume, throughout the N.-W. Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, the Eastern portions 

 of the Punjab and Rajputana, the Central Provinces and Central India. The 

 breeding season lasts from May to August. The nests are built in trees (a 

 shapeless mass of rubbish), at the extremities of lateral branches, made up 

 of straw, grass, twigs, roots and rags, with a deep cavity lined with feathers. 

 The eggs, Hume says, are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards 

 one end, but pyriform and elongated examples also occur. The eggs are 

 spotless blue and commonly brilliantly glossy, having also a tinge of green. 

 In length they vary from 0-95 to T25, and in breadth from 075 to O'Q, the 

 average of too being rn x 0*82. 



Gen. Acridotheres, Vieill. ; Gracula, Cm. 



Bill stouter and shorter than in Sturnus. Culmen deflected at tip ; nostrils 

 concealed by the frontal plumes ; tail rounded ; tarsi stout ; a naked space 

 usually behind the eye ; head crested or sub-crested ; its quill rudimentary. 



912. Acridotheres tristis (Linn), Jerd., B. ind. ii. p. 325, No. 



684 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 428 ; Blyth, B. Br. Burm. p. 89 ; 

 Gates, Sir. F. v. p. 160; Plume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 388; Anderson, 

 Yunnan Exped. p. 593 ; Cripps, Sir. F. vii. p. 290 ; Hti??ie, Sir. F. viii. 

 p. 106; Scully, Sir. F. viii. p. 330; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 178; 

 Gates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 379. The COMMON MYNA. 



Head sub-crested ; nape, neck behind, chin, throat and breast glossy black ; 

 back, scapulars, rump and upper tail coverts brown ; wing coverts, primaries 

 and secondaries black ; edge of the wing and the base of the primaries white, 

 forming a conspicuous wing patch ; tail black, the feathers tipped white ; 

 lower abdomen, vent and under tail coverts white. Bill and orbits deep 

 yellow ; legs dull yellow ; irides reddish. 



Length. 9*5 to 10 inches ; wing 5*25 ; tail 3*5 ; bill at front O'S to 0*9. 



Hab. Throughout India to Assam, Burmah and Ceylon, and a resident 

 everywhere ; breeding in holes of trees, roofs of houses and almost anywhere, 

 except on the ground, from June to August. Eggs 4, of a glossy pale green, 

 greenish or deep bluish green colour. 



913. Acridotheres ginginianus (Lath.), Lev., 0. A. t. 952; 



Jerd., B. Ind. ii. p. 326, No. 685 ; Murray \ Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 175 ; 

 id., Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 179; Hume, Nesls and Eggs Ind. B. i. p. 29; 

 Gates, B. Br. Burmah, p. 382. The BANK MYNA. 



