380

another four fresh eggs. The tree formed one of an avenue leading
from the house to the vats, and as men were alwa}rs going along
the road it surprised me to find these birds laying there; the hole
had heen caused by the heart of the tree rotting/7

Mr. Gates remarks of this Myna in Pegu:—" This bird does not
appear to lay till about the 15th April. I have taken the eggs,t
and I have seen numerous nests with young ones of various ages
in the middle of May. They breed by preference in holes of
trees and occasionally in the high roofs of monastic buildings.'7

The eggs of this species, which I have from Mussoorie, Dacca,
Kumaon, and the Nilgiris, approximate closer to those of Acrulo-
tJieres tristis than to those of A. yinf/inianus. They are rather long
ovals, somewhat pointed usually, but often pyriform. They are
perhaps, as a rule, somewhat paler than those of either of the
abovc-named species, and are of the usual spotless glossy type,
varying in colour from that of skimmed milk to pale blue or
greenish blue. Typically, I think, they are proportionally more
elongated and attenuated than those either of A. tristis, A.
(jinyinianuS) or $. contra.

In length they vary from 1*03 to T31, and in breadth from O78
to 0-9 ; but the average of forty eggs is 1*19 by O83.

555. Sturnopastor contra (Linn.). The Pied Myna.

Sturnopastor contra (Linn.\ Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 323; Hume, Hough
DraftN.$E.no.6S3.

The Pied Pastor, or Myna, breeds throughout the North-Western
Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, the eastern portions of the Punjab and
Eajpootana (it does not extend to the western portions nor to
Sindh), the Central Provinces, and Central India.

The breeding-season lasts from May to August, but the majority
of the birds lay in June and July. It builds in trees, at heights of
from 10 to 30 feet, usually towards the extremities of lateral
branches, constructing a huge clumsy nest of straw, grass, twigs,
roots, and rags, with a deep cavity lined as a rule with quantities
of feathers. Occasionally, but very rarely, it places its nest in
some huge hole in a great arm of a mango-tree. I have seen
ii)any hundreds of their nests, but only two thus situated.

As a rule these birds do not build in society, but at times,"
especially in Lower Bengal, I have seen a dozen of their nests on
a single tree.

The nest is usually a shapeless mass of rubbish loosely put to-
gether, rough and ragged.

A note I recorded on one taken at Bareilly will illustrate suffi-
ciently the kind of thing:—

" At the extremity of one of the branches of these same mango-
trees, a small truss of hay, as it seemed, at once caught every eye.
This was one of the huge nests of the Pied Pastor, and proved to be
some 2 feet in length and 18 inches in diameter, composed chiefly