Pacific Vortex: Mynah Birds and more

pg 38

...a naked Pitt gazed out the open window at a pair of mynah birds who were fighting over a disinterested female.

he myna is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which occur naturally only in southern and eastern Asia. Several species have been introduced to areas like North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, especially the Common Myna which is often regarded as an invasive species.

Mynas are not a natural group; instead, the term myna is used for any starling in India and surrounding areas, regardless of their relationships. This range was colonized twice during the evolution of starlings, first by rather ancestral starlings related to the Coleto and Aplonis lineages, and millions of years later by birds related to the Common Starling and Wattled Starling's ancestors. These two groups of mynas can be distinguished in the more terrestrial adaptions of the latter, which usually also have less glossy plumage except on the heads and longer tails. The Bali Myna which is nearly extinct in the wild is highly distinctive.

Some mynas are considered talking birds, for their ability to reproduce sounds, including human speech, when in captivity.

"Myna" is derived from the Tamil language.

He had a neatly trimmed Ahab, the whaler's red beard

The chin curtain beard (also called a Donegal or Lincoln) is a particular style of facial hair that grows along the jaw line and covers the chin completely (but does not include a mustache). This is not to be confused with the chinstrap beard—a style of beard that also grows along the jaw line but does not fully cover the chin like the chin curtain beard does. In addition, many chin curtain beards do not extend that far below the jawline, if at all, whereas all chinstrap beards generally do.

This style of facial hair was made famous by individuals such as Abraham Lincoln.

The Navy Department has compiled thirty-eight documented cases of ships over the past thirty eight years that have sailed into a circular-shaped area north of the Hawaiian island and vanished.

Cussler is creating this mystery for the book - in real life there are no such disappearances (without the maydays and wreckage, etc.)

bits of flotsam, oil slicks, even bodies

In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict describe specific kinds of wreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage.

Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo.
Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore.
Lagan is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed.
Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming.