A MISNAMED BIRD. 55 



the tracts where they occur they are only seen here and 

 there. Almost every garden has its own special avifauna. 

 Quite a different set of birds live in adjoining compounds. 

 Paradise fly-catchers abound in the garden next to mine, 

 yet I do not remember ever having seen one in my yard ; 

 and it is the same with most birds, except crows and mynas, 

 which are indiscriminate in their favours. 



The myna, further, resembles the crow in that it has dis- 

 covered that a mixed diet is the only truly scientific one. 

 Insects and grubs form the staff of life of the myna ; these 

 it supplements by a variety of food. Phil. Robinson has said 

 that the myna has no wit. It is nevertheless intelligent 

 enough to take advantage of the commotion which the pro- 

 gress of a cow or buffalo causes among the insects in the 

 grass ; for it is fond of accompanying one of these quadru- 

 peds in order to catch and devour the grasshoppers as they 

 jump out of the cow's path a leap from the frying-pan into 

 the fire. Mynas spend most of the day on the ground look- 

 ing for insects and grubs. They eat fruit and grain with 

 avidity. These noisy birds are the first to find out when 

 the wild cherries are ripe ; and many may be seen picking 

 up the fallen grain in wheat-fields from which the crop has 

 lately been removed. Faute de mieux mynas will hang 

 about with the crows outside the kitchen, in hopes that 

 scraps of rice or other food to their taste may be thrown out. 

 Mynas make model husbands and wives. They invariably 

 hunt in couples. Has anyone ever seen a solitary myna 

 except in captivity ? Where the husband goes, there is the 

 wife sure to follow. " A pair of mynas," writes Phil. Robin- 

 son, " remind one of a Dutch burgher and his frau." Is it 

 possible to pay them greater tribute than this ? 



Fortunately, it is only as examples of conjugal felicity that 

 a pair of mynas resemble a Dutchman and his wife, for if 

 they were like them in all respects, this article would never 

 have been written, for, like the little nipper, I might say of 

 such terribly respectable people " them I can't abide ! " The 

 myna is a bird of character. In his own way he is as vain 



