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A LIST OF BIRDS FOUND IN THE MYINGYAN DISTRICT 

 OF BURMA. 



By 



K. C. Macdonald. 



As the locality I write of appears to be one seldom subjected to ornitho- 

 logical observation, I have made out the following list of birds identified and 

 eggs I have taken during a residence of 6 years in the Myingyan district as 

 being of possible interest or use to members. 



Myingyan town is about 60 miles as the crow flies, south of Mandalay on 

 the Irrawaddy, and the district has a river frontage of roughly ICO miles along 

 the left bank. It lies almost in the centre of what is styled the dry zone of 

 Burma and contains little real forest country. This dry zone, as a look at a 

 forest map will show, is almost entirely surrounded by some of the largest 

 and most dense forests of the Indian Empire— a fact which I think enhances 

 the interest in its animal like. The climate is very dry and hot, although in 

 the cold season the temperature falls well below 60 deg. Fah. at night. 

 The average rainfall is about 18 inches only. An extinct volcanic 

 mountain, Popa, verging on 5,000 feet, stands within the district, and on its 

 eastern and southern slopes and inside the huge crater is the only big tree 

 jungle to be found. The rest of the district not cultivated, is covered with 

 thorny bush {Ziziphus jujuba) or stunted tree (Dipterocarpus) jungle. I have 

 given such local names as I know. Ihe numbers in the following list refer 

 to the " Fauna of British India " — Birds : — 



I. — Family Corvidce. 

 4. Corvus macro rhynclius.— The Jungle Crow. 



Local name " Taw Kyeegan.'' Breeds earlier than the house crow and soli- 

 tary. .My eggs were all taken during March and are just as variable in colouring 

 and size as those of C. insolens. 



8. Corvus insolens, — The Burmese House-Crow. 



Local name " Kyeegan. " 



The usual pest. Breeds in March and April. 



12. Urocissa occipitalis. — The Red-billed Blue Magpie. 



Rare I found a nest belonging to a pair of these birds on Popa on the 

 5th of April It was on a sapling about 20 feet from the ground and contained 

 three young birds and one hard-set egg. The parents were very noisy when 

 I approached the nest and gave away its existence. There are a few pairs 

 of birds on Popa, but I think nowhere else in the district. 



16. Dendrocitta rufa. — The Indian Tree-pie. 



Local name " Napagyi ". 



A common bird all over the district where there is any jungle. The two 

 or three nests I have found have always been on saplings that would not bear 

 much weight and from 20 to 30 feet from the ground. My eggs are all 

 of the pale-green ground-colour type. 



