AMERICAN STARLING, OR MEADOW LARK. 151 



The length of the SturneUa is 10:^ inches, its extent 16«|. Above 

 variegated with black, bright bay, and ochreous. Tail wedged, the 

 feathers pointed, the 4 outer nearly all white. Sides, thighs, and 

 vent pale ochreous, spotted with black. Upper mandible brown, the 

 lower bluish white. Iris hazel. Legs and feet large, pale flesh 

 color. In the young bird the yellow is much fainter, than in the 

 adult. Another species of this subgenus is found at the Straits of 

 Magellan, darker tlian ours, and beneath of a bright carmine red., 

 They form truly a very distinct genus. 



TROUPIALS. (Icterus, Bnsson.) 



In these birds the bill is in the form of an elongated, sharp-pointed 

 cone, somewhat compressed, rounded above, and rarely somewhat 

 curved; with the margins inflected. Nostrils oval, and covered by 

 a membrane. Tongue sharp, and cleft at tip. The tarsus rather lon- 

 ger than the middle toe ; inner toe but little shorter than the outer 

 and nearly equal to the hind one ; the middle toe longest ; the hind 

 nail twice as large as the others. Wings sharp. The 1st primary 

 but little shorter than the 3d and 4th, which are longest. 



The Female is very different from the male ; but the yoxing are 

 very like the former. They generally moult once a year, but the 

 colors are brighter in spring ; in autumn and winter the plumage of 

 the male somewhat resembles that of the female. — They are grega- 

 rious, and usually omnivorous ; building mostly in trees or bushes ; 

 some of them are partly polygamous. Their gait is rather quick, 

 with the body almost erect, the flight vigorous. Their flesh not 

 usually esteemed. — A genus exclusively American. Some of those 

 of the first section, Cassicus, possess considerable melody and power 

 of voice ; as well as those of the subgenera Icterus, and Emherizoides, 



Subgenus. — Icterus. 



With the bill narrower and slightly bent towards the point ; the 

 frontal sinus of the bill acute, but not deep. Female scarcely differ- 

 ing in size from the male, — These are not constantly gregarious, 

 only so during the period of migration, and before incubation ; they 

 also frequent forests ; feeding chiefly on insects and berries, though 

 when in confinement capable of digesting other vegetable food. In 



