328 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Descr. — The whole head, small frontal crest, and ear-coverts, 

 glossy black ; the upper plumage fuscous black, or blackish brown, 

 with a vinous tinge ; primaries black, with a white spot near their 

 base ; tail also black, white-tipped, most broadly on the outer 

 feathers ; beneath, the throat and breast dull cinereous blackish ; 

 abdomen reddish cinereous, paling in the centre, whitish on the 

 vent, and the under tail-coverts pure white ; the secondaries are 

 glossed with bronze towards their end. 



Bill orange yellow ; irides greyish white in the South of India, 

 yellow in the North ; legs yellow. Length 9i inches ; wino- 5 ; 

 tail 3 ; bill at fronty^ ; tarsus 1 T 4 ^. 



This Myna takes the place of the last in hilly and jungly districts 

 throughout India. I have found it on the Neilgherries, in the 

 Wynaad, in parts of Mysore bordering on the Ghats, and along 

 the crest of the Western Ghats, also in some of the jungles of 

 Central India and Bundelkund. It is also found in Nepal, the 

 more jungly parts of lower Bengal, Assam, and Burmah. 



It is very remarkable that this species should have grey eyes 

 in the South and yellow ones in the North, but such is certainlj- 

 the case. At one time I thought that there must be two distinct 

 species, but Specimens from both localities are barely distin- 

 guishable from each other. Those from the south of India have 

 the color of the upper surface, perhaps somewhat lighter and 

 more brown than in specimens from Bengal, and are a trifle 

 smaller. These differences, with the fact of the eye being white 

 instead of yellow, perhaps should constitute this a distinct species 

 or race, in which case it would bear Sykes' name, Mahrattensis. 



This bird has almost the same habits as the common Myna, 

 like it often attending cattle, but also frequently seen in gardens, as 

 at Ootacamund, eating seeds and fruit of various kinds ; and it is 

 very often seen clinging to the tall stem of the large Lobelia so 

 common on the Neilgherry hills, feeding on the small insects 

 (bugs chiefly) that infest the capsules of that plant. It is most 

 abundant on the Neilgherries, where it is a permanent resident, 

 breeding in holes in trees, making a large nest of moss and 

 feathers, and laying three to five eggs of a pale greenish-blue 

 colour. From what Hodgson says it is probably also a permanent 



