aRACTJLIPICA,—ACRIDOTHERES. 377

546. G-raculipica nigricollis (Payk.). The J3lac7c-necJced Myna.

All that we know of the nidification of this species is contained
in the following brief note by Dr. John Anderson:—

" It has much the same habits as Sturnopastor contra var. super-
ciliaris. I found it breeding in the month of May in one of the few
clumps of trees at Muangla."

Muangla lies to the east of .Bhaino.

549. Acridotheres tristis (Linn.)- The Common Myna.

Acridotheres tristis (Linn.), Jerd. J?. Ind. ii, p. 325; Hume, Rough
Draft N. §• JE. no. 684.

The Common Myna breeds throughout the Indian Empire,
alike in the plains and in the hills. A pair breed yearly in the roof
of my verandah at Simla, at an elevation of 7800 feet.

They are very domestic birds, and greatly affect the habitations
of loan and tbeir immediate neighbourhood. They build in roofs
of houses, holes in walls, trees, and even old wells, in the earthen
chatties that in some parts the natives hang out for their use
(as the Americans hang boxes for the Purple Martin), and, though
very rarely, once in a way on the branches of trees.

Captain Hutton says :—" This is a summer visitor in the hills,
and arrives at Mussoorie with the A.Juscus, "WagL It builds in
the hole of a tree, which is lined with dry grass and feathers, and
on 110 occasion have I ever seen a nest made on the branches of a
tree composed of twigs and grass as stated by Captain Tickell.

But in this instance Captain Tickell may have been right, for I
have once seen such a nest myself, and Mr. H. M. Adam writes:—
" Near Sambhur, on the 7th July, I saw a pair of this species
building a large cup-shaped nest in a babool tree; " while Colonel
G-. P. L. Marshall affirms that this species "frequently lays in
cup-shapecl nests of sticks placed in trees, like small Crows' nests/'
And he subsequently writes:—" I can distinctly reaffirm what I
said as to this species building a nest in the fork of a tree. In the
compound of Kalunder gari choki, in the Bolundshahr district, I
found no less than five of these nests on one day; the compound is
densely planted with sheeshurn trees, which were there about twenty
feet high, and the nests were near the tops of these trees. I found
several other similar nests on the canal-bank, one with young on
the llth September."

Also writing in this connection from Allahabad, Major C. T.
Bingham says :—

" Twice I have found the nest of this bird in trees, but it
generally builds in holes, both in trees and walls, and commonly in
the thatch of houses. Once I got a couple of eggs from a nest made
amidst a thick-growing creeper."

Neglecting exceptional cases like these, the nest is a shapeless but
warm lining to the hole, composed chiefly of straw and feathers,