380 

 ON ASIATIC STARLINGS. 



BY 



Capt. C. B. Ticehurst, r.a.m.c. 



Mr. Kinnear, our Museum Secretary, has asked me to write some notes 

 on the Starlings which are, or might be, found in India and Mesopotamia 

 and I must preface my paper on this subject with the remark that this 

 paper contains nothing very new or original and is simply written as a 

 guide to those out in the East, who may find some difficulty in identifying 

 the various races of Starlings they may come across*. 



The Group of Starlings {Sturnus) are most interesting and at the 

 same time rather a difficult one to elucidate and in India a good deal of 

 misconception exists concerning them. This is no doubt due to the way 

 in which they are dealt with in the " Fauna of British India." Here Gates 

 raised all the Starlings to the rank of species, whereas their true status is, 

 in my opinion, only that of sub-species or geographical races of the European 

 Starling, (the first to be described, Linnans 1758). Moreover in the Fauna 

 the nomenclature is somewhat muddled, the descriptions under what is 

 called Finsch's Starling {SturmLS poltaratskyi) applies to the Sturnus nobilior 

 of Hume, while poltaratskyi of Finsch (1878) is the correct and oldest name 

 for the common Indian Starling, which is there called Sturnus menzbieri 

 of Sharpe (1888), the latter being a synonym. 



In general appearance and in the field all the Starlings look alike and 

 it is impossible to differentiate them except in the hand.f The chief 

 differences lie in the distribution and character of the varied metallic 

 reflexions of the feathers. I have heard it stated that such differences are 

 of no value as the colour of the sheen varies according to the direction of 

 the light and the way in which the bird is held. Of some sheens this is 

 undoubtedly true — and in other birds than Starlings — but it is a primary 

 maxim in all scientific work always to compare two or more things which are 

 strictly comparable and it will be found that if these Starlings are placed 

 under similar conditions, their varied sheens are pretty constant in character 

 for each subspecies, and the correct way is to hold the bird with the bill 

 towards one and with the light coming from in front. 



I will now try and give shortly the distinguishing character of each and 

 their approximate distribution, and as the question of birds from Mesopo- 

 tamia concerns many who are interested in Ornithology out in the east I 

 have included all the known races of Sturnus vulgaris likely to be found 

 in Asia. 



1. Sturnus vulgaris poltaratskyi, Finsch. The Conunon Indian Starling. 



This is, Sturnus menzbieri of the Fauna. 



Head, throat and ear coverts purple ; mantle and rump green ; upper tail 

 coverts and scapulars green, the longest feathers often violet blue at the 

 tips ; wing coverts green, mixed with violet-blue on the larger feathers ; 



* Several other forms have been described, of the validity of these I cannot 

 personally speak, as I have seen no specimens, but since this paper has been written 

 I have seen a resume of some of these and I have added notes about them and 

 others taken from Dr. Hartert's paper Novitates XXV, pp. 327-337. (1918) 



T At the same time it must be noted that one can in sjood sun lig'ht with 

 glasses often pick out males with purple wings, backs or heads from those with 

 jferen reflections in these parts, and early in the winter one can with fair certainty 

 pick out adult males of nobilior from poltaratskyi by the blacker appearance, due 

 to the finer and less amount of spotting: of the underparts. 



