HE IS NOISY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 126, 29 May 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

HE IS NOISY.

By E. G. TURBOTT. B.Sc

ADVANCE OF THE MYHA.

A lot of the change of seen? (lining a world trip is due to different bird inhabitant-, tut one would hardly expect anything very new of this kind in an ordinary trip through our own country. However, 1 can remember passing into a new "region" because I hid met a new bird not very far south of Auckland. We had driven along tli» road into Te Knit i and had noticed in passing a bird in a most unusual position. It was actually standing on a cow's back. During the next day when an unknown song came down from a

housetop it seemed that the mysteri- [: ous strange bird was somewhat 1 closer. It soon came nearer, for the • birds were mynas, relations of the , starlings and just as fond of town- | ships and houses. Since then I have 1 seen it in many towns from east to [ west of the middle of the North Island. j The myna is a native of Afghanisj tan, India, Ceylon and Burma. It j was introduced into Australia and, ! 1 since it had become very common ' there, it was easily brought a step further to New Zealand. Mynas were brought here from Australia in numbers about IS7O. I The striking features of the Indian mvna's colouring are his yellow feet, ! I bill and bare skin patch on his face; i and the conspicuous white patches on 1 his wings. The rest of his feathers ! are chiefly black and ashy brown. Being a fairly large bird, a little . larger than the song thrush, the ' myna is in every way very easy to notice. j His song strikes one's ears immedi- | ately. He is a noisy shouter. I once made a note: "Their song I resembles that of the skylark, except

I that the notes are much harsher." | While the female bird is sitting, the : male may strut about "bowing and j swelling like a small dove, and screeching out his somewhat harsh love song." Perhaps yon have rometimes thought it just as well that the starlings which clutter up the house with their nesting material are not any bigger. If mynas come to your district you actually will have big i starlings, building even bigger, i untidy nests in the roof. The eggs ! are blue like starlings' eggs, also. ' It is quite possible that mynas . will come to your district. The Hon. jfJ. M. Thomson says (1920): "One of the most remarkable things about i the mynas is their increase after ' | their first introduction, then their 1 ; subsequent diminution, and. in many . I districts, their ultimate disappear-

a nee. They . . . have not been seen in the South Island for about 30 years. They were at one time common in Wellington city, but have quite disappeared from there, though met with farther north. They are still common in Taranaki and parte of Hawke's Bay. Their disappearance is apparently due, either directly or indirectly to the starlines. the increase of the latter birds coinciding:'with the decrease of the mvnas." At the present time nivnas , are steadily advancing towards Auckland. They have come through Hamilton, Ngarnawahia and Huntlv, right up to Rangiriri. It is very interesting to see the records of their progress. I The mvnn which I saw on the cow's hack was demonstrating to me ! one of the conspicuous habits of the birds. After feeding near the cow's nose, catching insects disturbed bv the big animal, the bird had found this a convenient perching place. Mvnas eat fruit as well as the insects. Their relation to man has been summed up: "The niyna ranks with the starling in usefulness, as it is largely an insectivorous feeder frequenting cultivations. Like the starling, too. it is liable to attack fruit and "rain,"