130 " HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



place for their own eggs, the mynah being partial to boxes and to 

 cavities in trees in which to nest. 



In any event little damage is to be apprehended from the above 

 source, since the cote can be freed from mynahs with but little 

 trouble. A much more serious charge against the mynah is that 

 it has a strong partiality for figs and other small fruits. The 

 bird is and always will be a nuisance to the fruit grower. 



There is still another and even more serious charge made 

 against the mynah, viz. : that it destroys and drives away the 

 native birds. It is an undoubted fact that practically all native 

 Hawaiian birds are diminishing in immbers, and the belief is 

 widespread that the mynah is directly responsible for the dimu- 

 nition. 



Thus Mr. Rothschild in Vol. 1 1 1 of the Avifauna of Laysan, p. 

 300, states that the mynah "kills and eats the young and eggs of 

 small birds." Unfortunately this author gives no specific cases, 

 and does not mention the birds attacked. Probably, however, 

 native birds are the ones in mind. 



More recently still Mr. Perkins (Ibis for October, 1901) affirms 

 that the mynah "not only attacks and drives away other birds, 

 but also devours their eggs and young." He adds further (p. 

 580) that he has himself seen the mynah "devouring both young 

 and eggs of other species." Such evidence is of course conclusive 

 enough, although, again, it is unfortunate that more specific infor- 

 mation is not given. 



Of course if the destruction of eggs and of the young of smaller 

 species is a general and confirmed habit of the mynah, inquirers 

 need seek no further for the cause of the recent decrease in the 

 number of native birds, and the mynah should be condemned to 

 immediate extermination if that be possible. I believe, however, 

 the above observations to be highly exceptional, and that such 

 acts of the mynah are very rare. 



I have had the mynah under observation in town, in pasture 

 land and in the forest for several years, having early surmised 

 that the bird might ultimately prove injurious to the native 

 ;species, and I have never seen a mynah attack or in any way 

 disturb a native bird, though hundreds of times I have observed 



