Genus ETJLABES*. 



Bill very stout, deep at the base, the gape without the rictal curve of the members of the 

 preceding genera ; the oilmen well curved, the under mandible slightly broader than the upper 

 at the base ; nostrils basal, rather small and round, placed in a depression. Wings long, the 3rd 

 and 4th quills the longest. Tail short and even. Legs and feet very stout, and covered with 

 strong transverse scutes ; tarsus longer than the middle toe. Claws much curved. 



Head adorned with naked skin and wattles of a yellow colour. 



ETJLABES RELIGIOSA. 



(THE SOUTHERN BLACK MYNA.] 



Gravida religiosa, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 164 (1766) ; Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 



1840, xi. p. 24; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 108 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 125 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 216; Horsf. & Moore, 



Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 522 (1856). 

 Eulabes religiosa, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 337 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 40; Holdsw. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 463; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 435 (1874); Legge, Ibis, 1874, 



p. 23; Fairbank, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 407; Ball, ibid. 1S78, vii. p. 221. 

 Gracula minor, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844, xiii. p. 134. 

 The Minor, Edwards, Birds, pi. 17; The Jungle- GracMe, The Jungle-Myna, The Southern 



Ilill-Myna (Jerdon) ; The Black Myna, or Glossy Myna, in the south of India. Kokni- 



maina, Hind. ; Konda gorinka, Telugu (Jerdon). 

 Selaldheniya, Southern Province ; Halalaheniya, Northern Province, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 9 - 5 to 10-25 inches; wing 5 - 7 to 5-8; tail 2-7 to 3-0: tarsus 1*2 to l - 25; middle toe 

 and claw 1-4 : hind toe from base 0*7 ; bill to gape 1'4. 



Iris brown, the outer edge white, darkly mottled ; bill orange-yellow ; legs and feet citron-yellow ; lappets and cheek- 

 spot rich yellow, the latter tinged with blue at the upper edge. 



The wattles or ornamentation of the head consist of a naked yellow patch on the cheek, a similar stripe running from 

 the eye to the side of the nape, where it expands into a broad lappet, running forward again at each side of the 

 occiput to the top of the head in a narrow "plaited" stripe. 



Entire plumage glossy black, with strong metallic reflections of rich purple on the head, cheeks and hind neck, and on the 

 rest of the upper surface and throat with green; wing-coverts and lower parts margined with green; chest and 

 sides of breast margined with bronze and purple ; primaries with a white bar across the middle, commencing on 

 the inner web of the 2nd, and ending on the outer web of the 8th. 



Young. These have the flaps slightly developed ; they are very short, and with the rest of the lappet are of a dull yellow ; 



( The Grackles or Glossy Mynas, together with some allied genera, differ in their stout curved bills, unangulated gape, 

 and metallic plumage from the true Mynas and Starlings, and are grouped by most systematists in a distinct subfamily. 

 They constitute the Lamprotoruinaj of Jerdon. Ornithologists, however, do not agree as to the various Asiatic and 

 African genera which fall within the limits of the subfamily, and it is not necessary in this work to adopt it. The 

 Lamprotonjina: appear, as Jerdon remarks, to grade into the Starlings through the genus Calornis ; and the aberrant 

 Saraglossa spiloptera (the Spotted-winged Starling), which has been placed in this subfamily, does not appear to belong to it. 



