STUENIA PAGODAKUM. 679 



in company with the Common Myna, picking up grasshoppers and other insects. Jerclon remarks that it has 

 a variety of calls and a rather pleasing song, and that it is frequently caged and domesticated, imitating any 

 other bird placed near it. 



Nidification. — In the northern parts of Ceylon this Myna breeds in July and August, and nests, I am 

 informed, in holes of trees ; the same is the case in Northern India ; but in Madras it is said by Jerdon to 

 build about large buildings, pagodas, houses, &c, although some correspondents of Mr. Hume testify to its 

 preferring trees to these latter situations. Mr. Blewitt, an experienced Indian oologist, has found the nest in 

 mango-, tamarind-, and jamun-trees from May until July, and says that feathers, grass, and sometimes an odd 

 piece of rag are loosely placed on the bottom of the hole for the eggs to repose on. The eggs are smaller than 

 those of the Common Myna and very pale in colour, varying from " bluish white to pale blue or greenish 

 blue;" they average in size, according to Mr. Hume, 097 inch in length by O7o inch in breadth. 



Subgenus STUENOENIS. 

 Bill larger, longer, and less compressed than in Stumia ; the culmen straighter ; under 

 mandible stout. Tail longer in proportion to the wings, with the under tail-coverts less 

 lengthened than in Stumia ; 2nd quill considerably shorter than the 3rd, which is the longest. 



