THE HOUSE-MYNAH. 
379 
Length 9 inches^ tail 2*6, wing 4'5, tarsus 1*2, bill from gape 1*45. The 
female is of the same size. 
>Si. contra o£ the Indian peninsula differs in wanting the white on the 
forehead and the streaks on the head ; it has also less white round the eye 
and has a smaller bill. S. jalla from J ava is very similar^ but has no 
white on the head_, the shafts of the feathers being merely paler than the 
other parts, and it has a large bare patch round the eye. cinernceus, 
from China and Upper Burmah, resembles B. superciliaris very closely, but 
has no patch on the wing and the tail is tipped with white. 
The Burmese Pied Mynah is very abundant in all parts of British 
Burmah where there are villages and cultivated land, except in Tenasserim, 
where Mr. Davison did not observe it south of Mergui. At Thayetmyo it 
appears to be partially migratory, being absent from that locality more or 
less in October and November. In other parts of Burmah it is a constant 
resident. 
It extends north into Native Burmah as far at least as Bhamo, where Dr. 
Anderson found it common, and Mr. Blyth states that it occurs in Siam. 
This Mynah is usually found near houses and in the society of man, 
frequenting gardens and fields. It follows grazing cattle about in order to 
capture the grasshoppers and other insects which are disturbed by their 
feet. It does not enter the verandahs of houses as A. tristis does. It is 
usually seen in small flocks of five or six ; and they are noisy birds, the note 
being remarkably joyous. 
The breeding-season commences in April and lasts till June. The nest 
is an enormous mass of grass and straw placed on one of the lower boughs 
of a large tree or in a bamboo bush. This bird delights in making its nest 
conspicuous, and, both from its great size and from the noise the birds are 
continually making near it, it cannot be overlooked. The eggs, four or 
five in number, are blue. 
Genus ACE.IDOTHERES, VieiU. 
354. ACEIDOTHERES TRISTIS. 
THE HOUSE-MYNAH. 
Paradisea tristis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 167. Acridotheres tristis, Jerd. B. Ind. 
ii. p. 325 ; Huvne, Nests and Eggs, p. 428 ; Bl. B. Bw^m. p. 89 ; Gates, S. F. 
v. p. 160 ; Hume 8f JDav. S. F. vi. p. 388 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 593 ; Cripps, 
S. F. vii. p. 290 ; iru7ne, S. F. viii. p. 106 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 330. 
Description. — Male and female. Whole head, neck and upper breast 
black ; lower breast, flanks, sides of abdomen and thighs rich vinous 
