The Nias Myna or Nias Hill Myna (Gracula robusta ) is a member of the starling

Starling

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...

 family. It is an endemic resident of Nias

Nias

Nīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....

 and other nearby islands off western Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

.

Description

This is a large stocky crow-like

Crow

Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

 myna, 30 – 36 cm length, with mainly purple-glossed black plumage. It has bright orange-yellow patches of naked skin and large fleshy yellow wattles on the side of its head and nape.
There are large white wing patches which are obvious in flight. The massive bill is mainly red, and the strong legs are bright yellow.

Behaviour

This myna is arboreal, and is found mainly in flocks in hill forests. Like most starlings, the Nias Myna is fairly omnivorous

Omnivore

Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...

, eating fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

, nectar and insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s.

This bird is famous for its taliking abilities, and fetches a high price. It is under pressure from trapping for the illegal pet trade, and from habitat destruction, since most indigenous forest has been destroyed. In a bird survey of Nias Island in 1990, Dymond failed to find any Nias Mynas in a 17 day stay.