Hill Myna

1 Species Overview

The hill myna (Gracula religiosa) is a close cousin of the crested myna. Its merit is a very pleasant song that it can produce even without being taught. Its voice is loud, sweet and melodious, rich in tune, and it is good at mimicking other birds; with training it can also imitate human speech and learn simple songs.

The hill myna is fairly large, mostly black overall with violet-blue and metallic black sheen. It is distributed mainly across India, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and China.

Taxonomy: Chinese name Liao Ge; aliases Qin Ji Liao, Java hill myna, Hainan myna, Indian Grackle; binomial Gracula religiosa (Linnaeus, 1758); kingdom Animalia; phylum Chordata; subphylum Vertebrata; class Aves; order Passeriformes; family Sturnidae (starlings); genus Gracula; species Gracula religiosa.

Distribution: from India to southern Yunnan, southern Guangxi and Hainan Island in China, through Southeast Asia to Palawan and the Greater Sunda Islands.

2 Physical Characteristics

Apart from the head and neck, which have a violet-black metallic sheen, nearly all of the hill myna’s plumage is black, with a dark brown iris ringed in white; the bill ridge is orange-red; the tarsus lemon-yellow; and the wattle and bare face are yellow or deep yellow.

The lores and sides of the head are covered with short velvety black feathers; the central crown feathers are hard, dense and curled, and the adult male has well-developed rictal bristles. From the forehead to the crown it is glossy black, the sides of the head velvety black; behind the head are two orange-yellow wattles; the area behind and below the eye is partly bare. The upperparts, nape, shoulders and the inner wing coverts are glossy coppery-purple; the lower back, rump and uppertail coverts are metallic green; the flight feathers are black, with the 2nd to 7th primaries crossed by white bars on the inner web, most visible in flight; the tail is black with a green gloss. The chin, throat and foreneck are violet-black; the upper breast coppery-green; the belly blue-violet-copper, with narrow white feather tips on the belly center and undertail coverts. Females resemble males. Juveniles are brownish-black above, lack the head wattles, and show less bare skin than adults. Feet are anisodactyl, three toes forward and one back, the hind toe as long as the middle toe; legs are slender and weak, the tarsus hind edge scaled into a single plate; the skull is passerine.

3 Habitat and Environment

In the wild the hill myna mainly inhabits low hills and the plains at the foot of mountains. Its temperament is good and it suits life as a pet bird, but it must not be kept free-roaming at home; a properly sized cage is needed, as detailed below.

Because the hill myna eats a lot and produces copious, soft droppings, clean the cage daily and wash the water and food cups and change fresh drinking water every day. It loves water baths; in summer give a bath daily, and in other seasons depending on the weather and indoor temperature. For bathing, place the cage in a shallow water basin with water deep enough to cover the leg bend and touch the belly feathers, and let it bathe freely; after bathing set the cage somewhere warm, sheltered from wind and sunny so the body and feathers dry quickly.

The hill myna is native to warm southern regions and is therefore rather cold-sensitive; in winter keep the room above 5 degrees C and best cover the cage at night. It is timid and easily startled, and likes quiet, so it need not be taken out for walks; if you do take it out, acclimatize it gradually to the outside environment through adaptation training to avoid fright.

4 Keeping and Training

Many keep the hill myna for its ability to sing and talk; if you want one, buy a young bird for easier taming. Because it is timid and easily startled, it is not suited to being walked outside. At home you can keep songbirds like magpies in a nearby cage, or play recordings of songbirds and other sounds you want it to learn.

With training, the hill myna not only overcomes its fear of people but also learns the calls of many birds and animals. It learns human speech without tongue-scraping, and is articulate and clear. Train each morning in a quiet setting, teaching a few simple phrases and rewarding with favorite foods. Be patient and teach one phrase before the next. This bird is a quick learner, so never say silly or rude words in front of it, or it may pick them up and undermine the civilized intent of keeping a talking bird. A young bird usually says its first word around July, with individual variation but not much. Teaching myna-to-myna speeds learning; the period after the molt begins is the golden stage for talking, and it can learn a phrase in about a week, ending by winter, by which time that year’s young bird’s talking ability is essentially set.

The hill myna is highly social, usually moving in flocks; if one in the flock calls, the others linger and call nearby for a long time. Its voice is crisp, loud and sweetly varied, and during breeding it calls even more, often answering one another. It can mimic other birds and even learn simple human language.

The hill myna feeds mainly on insects such as locusts, grasshoppers and termites, and also on fruits and seeds like figs and banyan fruit. It is fond of wild fruit; when orchard fruit ripens, especially figs or similar fleshy fruit, it arrives in large flocks with other fruit-eating birds, and it also takes insects such as grasshoppers and termites.