378 STTONIDJE.

but in which fine twigs, bits of cotton, strips of rags, bits of old
rope, and all kinds of odds nnd ends may at times be found incor-
porated.

The normal breeding-season lasts from June to August, during
which period they rear two broods ; but in E.OSS Island (Andamans),
where they were introduced some years ago, they seein to breed all"
through the year. Captain Wimberley, who sent me some of their
eggs thence, remarks :—" The bird is now very common here. As
soon as it has cleared out one young brood, it commences building
and laying again. This continues all the year round."

I think this great prolificness may be connected with the
uniformly warm temperature of these islands and the great heat
of the sun there all through the year rendering much incubation
unnecessary. Even in the plains of Northern India in the hot
weather when they breed these birds do not sit close, and since at
the Andamans the weather is such all the year round that the
eggs almost hatch themselves, this may be partly the reason why
these birds have so many more broods there than with us, where,
for at least half the year, constant incubation would be necessary.
I particularly noticed when at Eareilly how very little trouble these
Mynas sometimes took in hatching their eggs, and I may quote
what I then recorded about the matter:—

" In a nest in the wall of our verandah we found four young
ones. This was particularly noteworthy, because from my study-
window the pair had been watched for the last month, first
courting, then flitting in and "out of the hole with straws and feathers,
ever and anon clinging to the mouth of the aperture, and laboriously
dislodging some projecting point of mortar; then inarching
up and down on the ground, the male screeching out his harsh
love-song, bowing and swelling out his throat all the while, and then
rushing after and soundly thrashing any chance Crow (four times
his weight at least) that inadvertently passed too near him ; never
during the whole time had either bir'd been long absent, and both
had been seen together daily at all hours. I made certain that
they had not even begun to sit, and behold there were four fine
young ones a full week old chirping in the nest! Clearly these
birds are not close sitters down here; but I well remember a pair
at Mussoorie, some 6000 feet above the level of the sea, the most
exemplary parents, one or other being on the eggs at all hours of
the day and night. The morning's sun beats full upon the wall iti
the inner side of which the entrance to the nest is; the nest itself
is within 4 inches of the exterior surface; at 11 o'clock the
thermometer gave 98° as its temperature. I have often observed
in the river Terns (Seena aurantia, Rhynchops albicollis, Sterna
javanica) and Pratincoles (Glareola lactea\ who lay their eggs in
the bare white glittering river-sands, that so long as the sun is high
and the sand hot they rarely sit upon their eggs, though one or
other of the parents constantly remains beside or hovering near and
over them, but in the early morning, in somewhat cold and cloudy
days, and as the night draws on, they are all close sitters. I