JETHIOPSAK. 539 



The young have the head and wings fulvous brown, but do not 

 otherwise differ from the adult. 



Bill gamboge; naked skin round eye brick-red; iris deep 

 maroon-red ; legs and feet yellow (Butler}. 



Length about 9; tail 3; wing 5; tarsus 1-4; bill from gape 

 1-1. 



Distribution. The whole of the northern half of India from the 

 Himalayas to the Nerbudda and Mahanadi rivers, and from Sind 

 to Eastern Bengal, in which latter province this Myna occurs as 

 far east as Furreedpore. It is found in the lower ranges of the 

 Himalayas, and there are several specimens in the British Museum 

 from Mussooree and other parts of these mountains. It is spoken 

 of as migratory in the plains by several writers, but probably by 

 some misapprehension. Blyth recorded this bird from Tenas- 

 serim; but he must have been mistaken, as no well-authenticated 

 instance of this species occurring east of the Bay of Bengal is 

 known. 



Habits, Sec. Breeds from April to July, excavating a nest- 

 chamber in the vertical banks of rivers and in the sides of wells. 

 The eggs, four or five in number, measure about T05 by -82. 



Genus JETHIOPSAR, Sharpe, 1889. 



The genus ^Ethiopsar differs from Acridotheres in one important 

 particular. The birds of the latter gen us have a considerable space 

 on the side of the head bare of feathers ; those of the former have 

 the whole side of the head and even the eyelids closely feathered. 



JEthiopsar contains three species of Myna found in India, one 

 of which is very common and widely distributed, and two are little 

 known and found only on the eastern borders of the Empire. In 

 habits they resemble Acridotheres^ but the commoner species, 

 jE. fuscus, is confined to forest country as a rule, and is seldom 

 seen near houses. 



Key to the Species. 



<t. With no collar on the sides of the neck. 



a'. Body-plumage brown ; frontal plumes 



short &. fuscus, p. 539. 



k'. Body-plumage black ; frontal plumes long . *E. grandis, p. 541. 

 f>. With a collar on the sides of the neck &. albicinctus, p. 541. 



552. JEthiopsar fuscus. The Junyle Myna. 



Pastor fuscus, Wagler, Syst. Av., Pastor, sp. 6 (1827). 

 Pastor mahrattensis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 95. 

 Acridotheres griseus (Daud.}, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 108. 

 Acridotheres fuscus ( Wagl.\ Horsf. Sf M. Cat. ii, p. 537 ; Jerd. 



B. I. ii, p. 327 ; Hume, N. $ E. p! 431 ; id. 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 338 ; 



Anders. Yunnan Exped.,Aves, p. 594; Hume, Cat. no. 686; Gates, 



B. B. i, p. 380 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 86. 



