I have hinted more than once at the possibility of there being some
understanding between the architect of my bungalow and the feathered
folk. On this hypothesis alone am I able to account for the presence of a
rectangular hole in the porch, about eight feet above the level of the
ground, a hole caused by the deliberate omission of one or two bricks.
The scramble for this cavity by those species of birds which build in
holes is as great as that of Europeans to secure bungalows in a
Presidency town. Last year a pair of spotted owlets (_Athene brama_)
secured the prize and reared up a noisy brood of four. These were
regarded with mingled feelings by the human inhabitants of the bungalow.
On the one hand, a bird more amusing than the clownish little owlet does
not exist; on the other, it is excessively noisy. Each member of the
family talks gibberish at the top of its voice, sixteen to the dozen, and
as all will persist in speaking at once, the result is a nocturnal chorus
that will bear comparison with the efforts of the cats which enliven the
Londoner’s back yard.
[Illustration: THE INDIAN SPOTTED OWLET. (ATHENE BRAMA)]
This year a couple of mynas (_Acridotheres tristis_) secured the highly
desirable nesting site. Immediately on entering into possession they
proceeded to cover the floor of the cavity with a collection of rubbish,
composed chiefly of rags, grass, twigs, and bits of paper. There was no
attempt at arranging this rubbish, it was bundled pell-mell into the hole
and four pretty blue eggs were laid on top of it.
One might suppose that the more intelligent the bird the greater the
degree of architectural skill it would display. This, however, is not the
case. Were it so, crows, mynas, and parrots would build palatial nests.
Mynas do not always nestle in holes in buildings; they are content with
any kind of a cavity, whether it be in a building, a tree, or a sandbank.
In default of a hole they are content with a ledge, provided it be
covered with a roof. A few years ago a pair of mynas reared up a brood on
a ledge in the much-frequented verandah of the Deputy Commissioner’s
Court at Fyzabad.
To return to the nest in my porch. The eggs in due course gave rise to
four nestlings of the ordinary ugly, triangular-mouthed,
alderman-stomached variety. When they were nearly ready to leave the nest
I took away two of them by way of rent for the use of my bungalow. This
action was in complete accord with oriental custom. In India the landlord
has, from time immemorial, taken from his tenants a portion of their
produce as rent or land revenue. The Congress will doubtless declare that
in levying 50 per cent. of the family brood I assessed the family too
highly; but I defy even a Bengali orator to take 33 per cent. of four
young mynas. I might, it is true, have assessed the rent at 25 per cent.,
but the life of a solitary myna cannot be a very happy one, so I took
two, a cock and a hen.
To the ordinary observer the cock myna is as like the hen as one pea is
like any other pea. To one, however, who has an eye for such things, the
bigger head and more massive body of the cock render him easily
recognisable when in company with his sisters. The brood consisted of two
cocks and two hens, so that I made a fair division. Some there are who
may question the ethics of my action. I would remind such that,
incredible as it may seem, the parent birds, in all probability, did not
miss the two young ones. Birds cannot count. Even the wily crow is unable
to “spot” the extra egg which the koel has surreptitiously introduced
into the nest. It is, of course, possible that although those mynas could
not count, they missed the two young birds to the extent of noticing that
something was wrong with their brood. If they did all I can say is that
they concealed their feelings in an admirable manner, for they continued
to feed the remaining young as though nothing had happened. If it be
thought incredible that the young birds were not missed, is it not
equally hard to believe that not one of the lower animals can tell the
difference between two and three? If a dog has three bones before him and
you remove one of them, he will not miss it unless he sees you remove it!
A _chaprassi_ was appointed to nurse my two young mynas, with
instructions to keep them until they should become somewhat more
presentable. At the end of three weeks they were adjudged fit to appear
in public, being somewhat smaller and rather lanky editions of their
parents, with the patch behind the eye white instead of yellow. Having
been taken from the nest they were perfectly tame, showing no fear of
man, and readily accepting food from the hand.
Young nestlings display no fear of man, and do not appear to mind being
handled by a human being; but as they grow older they learn to fear all
strange creatures, hence it is that captive birds taken from the nest are
always tamer than those which are caught after they are fledged. It was
amusing to see the way in which my young mynas ran towards the
_chaprassi_ when he called “Puppy, puppy.” “Puppy” is apparently a term
applied by native servants indiscriminately to any kind of pet kept by a
_sahib_.
Mynas make excellent pets because they are so alert and vivacious, and,
above all, because they have so much character.
A myna is a self-assertive bird, a bird that will stand no nonsense.
I know of few things more amusing than to witness a pair of mynas give a
snake a bit of their minds as they waltz along beside it in a most daring
manner.
Owing to the self-assertion of the myna he is apt to be quarrelsome.
Street brawls are, I regret to say, by no means uncommon. In these two or
three mynas attack one another so fiercely that they get locked together
and roll over and over—a swearing, struggling ball of brown, yellow, and
white.
The myna, although by no means a songster, is able to emit a great
variety of notes, all of which must be familiar to every Anglo-Indian.
A bird which can produce a large number of sounds is almost invariably a
good mimic, and the common myna is no exception to this rule. In this
respect, however, he does not compare favourably with the grackles or
hill-mynas, as they are commonly called. These can imitate any sound,
from the crack of a whip and the exhortations of a bullock-cart driver to
the throat-clearing operation in which our Indian brethren so frequently
indulge.