DANGER OF INTRODUCING NOXIOUS ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 103 



taught me better. The birds were introduced more than fifteen years ago into 

 New Zealand, and now, like the thrushes, they have become a pest to fruit 

 growers. They have changed their habit from being principally insectivorous 

 to having become omnivorous.' 



After due deliberation, the Government Lssued a ijroclamation on 

 January 22, 1896, declaring the starlinji^ a destructive bird and abso- 

 lutely proliibiting its importation into Western Australia. Still mor«' 

 recently it has been condemned in Tasmania, wliere it is charged 

 with committing depredations on small fruits, clierries, and wheat, 



Pig. 4.— Mina (Acridotheres tristis). 



Its further distribution has been discouraged, and when the (juestion 

 of introducing several species of birds was under discussi(m at an 

 agricultural conference at Scottsdale on December 6, 18'J7, the starling 

 was promptly rejected. ^ 



THE MIXA. 



The mina, or mynah {Acridotheres frisfi,s, fig. 4), is common thi-ough- 

 out most of India, except Kashmir and Tenasserim. In its habits it 



' Producers' Gazette, Western Australia, Y, January, 1898, p. 29. 



- Agr. Gazette, Tasmania, V, November. 1897, p. (i6: January, 1898, p. 103. 



