STUBNOPASTOB.	387
of dry grass, but with a few twigs, many feathers, and a strip or
two of rags intermingled in the mass. The materials were loosely
put together, and the nest was placed high up in a fork near the
extremity of a branch. In the centre was a well-like cavity some
9 inches deep by 3| inches in diameter, at the bottom of which,
ajnongst many feathers, lay four fresh eggs."
Five is the full complement of eggs, but they very often lay only
four, and once in a hundred times six are met with.
Prom Hansie Mr. W. Blewitt writes that he " found numerous
nests during May and June. They were all placed on keekur-
trees, at heights of from 10 to 15 feet from the ground, the trees
for the most part being situated on the banks of a canal or in the
Dhana Beerh, a sort of jungle preserve.
"The nests were densely built of keekur and zizyphus twigs,
and thickly lined with rags, leaves, and straw. Eive was the
greatest number of eggs that I found in any one nest."
Writing of his experience in the Delhi and Jhansi Divisions, Mr. E.
E>. Blewitt remarks that " the Pied Pastor breeds from June to
August, making its nests between the outer branchlets of the
larger lateral branches of trees, without special choice for any one
kind. The nest is altogether roughly made, though some ingenuity
is evinced in putting all the material of which it is composed to-
gether. Twigs, grasses, rags, feathers, &c. are all brought into
requisition to form the large-made structure, which I have found,
though less commonly, at a higher altitude from; the ground than
the 8 or 10 feet Jerdon speaks of."
Major C. T. Bingham writes :—" Breeds in Allahabad in June,
July, and August; and at Delhi in May, June, and July. The
nest is a large shapeless mass of straw, feathers, and rags, having
a deep cavity for the eggs, which are generally five in number.
The nest is almost always placed at the extreme tip of some slender
branch, and there is no attempt at concealment."
Mr. J. E. Cripps tells us that at Eurreedpore, in Bengal, this
Myna is " very common, and a permanent resident. They eat
fruit as well as insects. Lay in May and June, building their huge
nests at various heights from the ground, and in any tree that
comes in handy. I have generally found the nests lined with the
white feathers of the paddy-birds; some of the feathers being as
much as six and seven inches in length. The nests were composed
principally of doob-grass ; three to four eggs in each nest."
Erorn Cachar Mr. J. Inglis writes :—^c*The Pied Pastor is very
common all the year. It breeds during March, April, May, and
June, making its nest on any sort of tree about 15 feet or more
from the ground; about 100 nests may often be seen together.
It prefers nesting on trees on the open fields. I do not know the
number of its eggs."
The eggs are typically moderately broad ovals, a good deal
pointed towards one end, but pyriform and elongated examples
occur ; in fact, a great number of the eggs are more or less pear-
shaped Like those of all the members of this subfamily, the eggs
25*