Common Mynah. 

 Acridotheres tristis, 



VIII.— THE MYNAH. 

 ■" I am not black m my heart, though yellow in my legs." 



— Shakespeare. 

 The Mynah needs perhaps to make some apology for 

 his yellow stockings, since such mustard-coloured 

 understandings are not usual among small birds, per- 

 taining rather to the rapacious tribe, and being thus a 

 badge of anything but respectability. But the Mynah 

 atones for his yellow legs, feet, and face, by the exceed- 

 ingly decorous plumage which covers the rest of him ; 

 no objection can be made to his black hood, or the 

 sober chocolate of his body colour, or to the plain black, 

 diversified with white, of his quills and tail. It is no 

 wonder that Linnaeus probably having only seen 

 a Mynah stufEed, and concluding from his general style 



