BIRDS ABOUT TOWNS 165 



So has the house -mynah, which is an 

 Indian bird of the starling kind, with the same 

 habits as our starling. This is not the glossy- 

 black mynah with yellow flaps of skin on its 

 head, which is such an attraction to visitors 

 at the Zoo because of its talking powers. 

 The house-mynah is a more slender bird, and 

 mostly brown in colour, with yellow legs and 

 a little yellow bare skin about its eyes. It is 

 even tamer than our starling, because it not 

 only builds in holes in buildings as the starling 

 does, but also runs about in the streets as well 

 as in the gardens. It is a bold, plucky bird, 

 and stands no nonsense from the crows, but 

 " goes for " them if it thinks itself aggrieved ; 

 and it is, I think, about the most popular 

 bird in India with Europeans and natives. 

 So it is not surprising that it has been taken 

 into various other countries, and is now found 

 in Australia and some other places in the 

 Pacific, and also as far away as Mauritius and 

 St. Helena. 



The swallow tribe, as every one knows from 

 our birds here, are great lovers of houses, 

 and nearly everywhere you will find some kind 

 of swallow about towns; but in India the 



