THE STARLINGS OR MYNAHS. 49 



blue ones. There is, however, some tendency to vari- 

 ation in the colour of the eyes in other Starlings. More 

 than once I have seen the Common Starling in India 

 with whitish eyes instead of brown ones, and I once 

 saw a Bank Mynah with yellow eyes in a cage with 

 several of the ordinary red-eyed ones. If such a vari- 

 ation proved strongly hereditary, it would of course 

 spread in time over a whole district. It would be 

 very interesting to know if the differently-coloured eye in 

 such cases is associated with a difference in disposition 

 or constitution, and this could easily be ascertained with 

 species so readily obtained and kept as the Mynahs are. 



I used to know a very tame jungle Mynah which flew 

 about the Museum compound at complete liberty, and 

 seldom failed to look me up early in the morning, though I 

 did not usually feed him. This is undoubtedly the best 

 way of keeping the common birds to allow them 

 full liberty but they must be expected to disappear 

 in time. 



THE PIED MYNAH (Sturnopastor contra), commonly known 

 as Abulka among the natives, is one of our most charm- 

 ing birds. The figure (Fig. 4), on Plate II, gives an 

 excellent idea of it, but it should be mentioned that the 

 underparts below the breast are a pale grey rather than 

 pure white, looking rather dirty. The base of the bill 

 and the bare skin round the eyes are bright red, the tip 

 of the bill being white. The legs are fleshy-white also. 

 Young birds, besides having the neck streaked with 

 brown, show no red about the face, and have black bills 

 and legs. Curiously enough, they also have the inside 

 F, GAB 4 



