Nidification of Indian Birds. 269 



109. yEthiopsar grandis. 



Oates, F. B. Ind. i. p. 511 ■ Harrington, B. N. H. S. J. 

 xiv. p. 598. 



Capt. Harrington remarks that this Myna " builds in holes 

 of trees, making a rough nest of straw and feathers. Eggs 

 generally two, sometimes three. Pale blue, measuring 1*16 

 by *85 inch. Breeding-season, April and May." 



Later in a letter to me he gives an account of the nesting 

 of this bird and ^E. albicinctus, which I quote under the 

 latter bird. He also informs me that they rarely lay as 

 many as four eggs. Six eggs in my collection, which I 

 owe to him, are just like eggs of JEthiopsar fasevs. They 

 range between 115 and 1*26 inches in length, and between 

 "8 and '87 inch in breadth, and average 1*2.2 by - 84 inch. 



110. ^Ethiopsar albicinctus. 



Oates, F. B. Ind. i. p. 511 ; Harrington, B. N. H. S. J. 

 xiv. p. 598. 



The only notes that I have on this bird, as also specimens 

 of its eggs, 1 owe to Capt. Harrington. In the Bombay 

 Journal he merely gives the following note : — " Habits 

 exactly the same as the last, in fact the two very often 

 build in company in holes in old trees. Eggs pale blue, 

 four in number, measuring 1*1 by "8 inch." 



In a letter to me, however, he gives the following inter- 

 esting account. Writing of this bird and the preceding he 

 says that he found " both common birds in the Shan States, 

 and Bhamo and Onvetmyina districts, and on the Upper 

 Chindwin, but they are not found in the dry zone of Burmah 

 so far as I know. They are both fond of nesting in company 

 in holes of trees, making the usual untidy Mynas' nests of 

 straw, feathers, and other odd materials. I have found 

 .. E. grandis nesting in the root's of houses, but not zE. albi- 

 cinctus. The strangest site, however, chosen by both kinds 

 on the Upper Chindwin was the sandy banks of the river. 

 Thousands must nest in holes in the banks of the Chindwin 

 from about sixty miles above Kendat up to Honalui. The 

 holes, I think, must have been either made or enlarged In 



