THE KING-CROW. 83 



they ignominiously failed. After a tremendous amount of 

 fluttering of the wings, the birds were obliged again to 

 alight on the ground without having given to their offspring 

 the morsels they had secured for them. Sharp and shrill 

 were the cries of the disappointed parent birds, and heart- 

 rending the notes of the still more disappointed youngsters, 

 who naturally resented this unaccountable neglect of their 

 parents. However, benevolence is not my characteristic 

 feature when awakened at 4 a.m., on a hot morning after a 

 restless night. I did not move the bed, but tried to get 

 some more sleep. After a time the mynas grew still more 

 excited, and, sleep seeming to be out of the question, I arose 

 to see if I could discover any fresh disturbing element. A 

 dire tragedy had been enacted. There before my eyes lay 

 a young myna that had fallen out of the warm nest on to the 

 cold stone floor of the verandah. Round the unfortunate 

 youngster danced the parents in a state of great excitement. 

 The young bird must have been newly hatched, for its body 

 could not boast of a feather, while the eyes were still closed. 

 A young myna is not a pretty sight. It is all stomach and 

 beak. The former organ would do honour to any alder- 

 man, while the latter is at least ten sizes too big for the rest 

 of the body, the stomach always excepted. 



In young birds nature sacrifices beauty to utility without 

 scruple. That great ugly gaping beak is very necessary 

 to enable parents -to feed the young birds. I lifted the 

 young myna back into the nest amidst the frantic screams 

 of the parents. Thus did I find myself before 5 a.m., not 

 only engaged in a natural history study, but even driven 

 to active interference in the domestic matters of a family of 

 mynas ! 



But it is time we were speaking of the subject of this 

 article ; otherwise it will be likened to a lady's letter in 

 which all the news is to be found in the postscript. The 

 King-Crow is one of those u bold bad " birds so common 

 in India, and which make fits fauna so fascinating a study. 

 Needless to say it is not a crow, for in India we seem to take 



