Robert Domina, Age 13, Of Staten Island, N.Y., for his question:
Where is the home of the mynah bird?
In his native name, the mynah bird is considered a pest. He is three times the size of our pesky starlings, five times as noisy and 10 times as sassy. In fact, he is a super sized starling. His original home was India, though he is now found flying wild. In several other tropical countries.
The starlings and the mynah birds are noisy nuisances that belong in the bird family sturnidae. All of them originated in the old world, and there was a time when America was free from the flocks of scrappy starlings that now sqibble on our lawns, fight our native birds, steal our fruit and eyed clutter up the runways of our airports.
Some unknown person, who should get a demerit, introduced a few starlings to the eastetn united states. The creatures thrived and spread until now they have reached the pacific coast. The story of the mynah bird is somewhat similar. His original home was India and perhaps parts of Burma. There he screamed and squabbled with his neighbors, stole the farmer's fruit and even took rides on the backs of sacred white cows.
Once again, some thoughtless person introduced as unpopular bird into new lands. The mynah bird is now found along with flocks of his rowdy relatives in many Asian countries. Luckily for us, he is a bird of the tropics. Otherwise, our starling problems might be tripled. For the mynah is three times the size and has more than three times the nuisance value of the average starling.
The common mynah wears glossy plumage of black or darkest brown. There are white patches on his wings, and his head may be adorned with bare patches of skin called wattles. The crested mynah bird is crowned with a tuft of feathers. The talking mynah bird of India often becomes a household pet, because he can be taught to imitate the human voice. He can parrot a few words, sing a few notes off key and even whistle. There are quite a few of these pet mynah birds in America. Let's hope that they do not escape and make themselves at home in the wild.
Like his small cousin the starling, the mynah bird. Is a very sloppy housekeeper. The ground is littered with straws from his shaggy nest, and where there is one nest, there are scores of others. The sassy fellow is so bold that a human being can walk within a few feet of him, but sometimes a neighborhood cat can best him. This happens when Mr. Mynah gets into a heated squabble with another mynah bird. The fighters get so angry with each other that they forget their enemies and up creeps miss kitty. At the right moment, she pounces and runs off with a mynah bird dinner.