Sturnopastor contra (_Linn_.), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 323; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 683.
The Pied Pastor, or Myna, breeds throughout the North-Western
Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, the eastern portions of the Punjab and
Rajpootana (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 many 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 together,
rough and ragged.
A note I recorded on one taken at Bareilly will illustrate
sufficiently 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 of dry grass,
but with a few twigs, many feathers, and a strip or two of rags
intermingled in the mass. The materials were loosely put together, and
the nest was placed high up in a fork near the extremity of a branch.
In the centre was a well-like cavity some 9 inches deep by 3½ inches
in diameter, at the bottom of which, amongst many feathers, lay four
fresh eggs."
Five is the full complement of eggs, but they very often lay only
four, and once in a hundred times six are met with.
From Hansie Mr. W. Blewitt writes that he "found numerous nests during
May and June. They were all placed all keekur-trees, at heights of
from 10 to 15 feet from the ground, the trees for the most part being
situated on the banks of a canal or in the Dhana Beerh, a sort of
jungle preserve.
"The nests were densely built of keekur and zizyphus twigs, and
thickly lined with rags, leaves, and straw. Five was the greatest
number of eggs that I found in any one nest."
Writing of his experience in the Delhi and Jhansi Divisions, Mr. F.R.
Blewitt remarks that "the Pied Pastor breeds from June to August,
making its nests between the outer branchlets of the larger lateral
branches of trees, without special choice for any one kind. The nest
is altogether roughly made, though some ingenuity is evinced in
putting all the material of which it is composed together. Twigs,
grasses, rags, feathers, &c. are all brought into requisition to form
the large-made structure, which I have found, though less commonly, at
a higher altitude from the ground than the 8 or 10 feet Jerdon speaks
of."
Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"Breeds in Allahabad in June, July, and
August; and at Delhi in May, June, and July. The nest is a large
shapeless mass of straw, feathers, and rags, having a deep cavity
for the eggs, which are generally five in number. The nest is almost
always placed at the extreme tip of some slender branch, and there is
no attempt at concealment."
Mr. J.E. Cripps tells us that at Furreedpore, in Bengal, this Myna
is "very common, and a permanent resident. They eat fruit as well as
insects. Lay in May and June, building their huge nests at various
heights from the ground, and in any tree that comes in handy. I
have generally found the nests lined with the white feathers of the
paddy-birds; some of the feathers being as much as six and seven
inches in length. The nests were composed principally of doob-grass;
three to four eggs in each nest."
From Cachar Mr. J. Inglis writes:--"The Pied Pastor is very common all
the year. It breeds during March, April, May, and June, making its
nest on any sort of tree about 15 feet or more from the ground; about
100 nests may often be seen together. It prefers nesting on trees on
the open fields. I do not know the number of its eggs."
The eggs are typically moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed
towards one end, but pyriform and elongated examples occur; in fact, a
great number of the eggs are more or less pear-shaped. Like those of
all the members of this subfamily, the eggs are blue, spotless, and
commonly brilliantly glossy. In shade they vary from a delicate bluish
white to a pure, though somewhat pale, sky-blue, and not uncommonly
are more or less tinged with green. They vary in length from 0·95 to
1·25, and in breadth from 0·75 to 0·9; but the average of one hundred
eggs is 1·11 by 0·82 nearly.