reared. This is not correct. The nesting season
of this species begins long before June. The writer has repeatedly
seen mynas carrying twigs and feathers in March, and has come across
nests containing eggs or young birds in both April and May. June
perhaps is the month in which the largest numbers of nests are seen.
The cradle of the common myna is devoid of architectural merit. It is
a mere conglomeration of twigs, grass, rags, bits of paper and other
oddments. The nesting material is dropped haphazard into a hole in a
tree or building, or even on to a ledge in a verandah. Four beautiful
blue eggs are laid.

At Peshawar Mr. A. J. Currie once found four myna's eggs in a deserted
crows' nest in a tree.

As has already been stated, the nest of the bank-myna (_A.
ginginianus_) is built in a hole in a well, a sandbank, or a cliff.
The birds breed in colonies; each pair excavates its own nest by means
of beak and claw. Into the holes dug out in this manner the
miscellaneous nesting materials are dropped pell-mell after the manner
of all mynas. The breeding season of this species lasts from April to
July, May being the month in which most eggs are laid.

The black-headed or brahminy myna (_Temenuchus pagodarum_) usually
begins nesting operations about a month later than the bank-myna; its
eggs are most often taken in June. The nest, which is an untidy,
odoriferous collection of rubbish, is always in a cavity. In Northern
India a hole in a tree is usually selected; in the South buildings are
largely patronised. Some years ago the writer observed a pair of these
birds building a nest in a hole made in the masonry for the passage of
the lightning conductor of the Church in Fort St. George, Madras.

May marks the commencement of the breeding season of the pied
starlings (_Sturnopastor contra_). In this month they begin to give
vent with vigour to their cheerful call, which is so pleasing as
almost to merit the name of song.

Throughout the rains they continue to make a joyful noise. Not that
they are silent at other seasons; they call throughout the year, but,
except at the breeding period, their voices are comparatively subdued.

The nest is a bulky, untidy mass of straw, roots, twigs, rags,
feathers and such-like things. It is placed fairly low down in a tree.

Many of these nests are to be seen in May, but the breeding season is
at its height in June and July.

The grey hornbills (_Lophoceros birostris_) are now seek