598 STURNUS GUTTATUS. 



and purple, tlie latter predominating on the neck and head. 

 All the feathers of the head and fore-neck with a scarcely ap- 

 parent very minute whitish tip, of the other parts with a trian- 

 gular spot at the end. The spots on the upper parts are pale 

 brown, on the low^er white. The quills and tail-feathers are 

 dusky, their outer webs more or less glossed with green, and 

 margined with light brownish-red, as are the upper and lower 

 tail-coverts. 



Length to end of tail 9^ ; extent of wings 15 J ; wing from 

 flexure h^^ ; tail 1\% ; bill along the back 1^, along the edge 

 of lower mandible 1^^ ; tarsus 1 ; first toe i, its claw h\ 

 twelfths ; second 7i, its claw 4i twelfths ; third 1 0^ twelfths, 

 its claw /^ ; fourth 7i twelfths, its claw /^. 



Female. — The bill is blackish-brown ; the irides hazel ; the 

 feet reddish-brown ; the claws blackish. The feathers are less 

 pointed ; those of the head less elongated, all distinctly tipped, 

 the upper with light reddish-brown, the lower with white 

 spots, broader than in the males. On the hind part of the 

 back, the light-coloured part of each feather extends so as to 

 form a margin, as is the case more conspicuously on the lower 

 tail -coverts. There is very little difference in size. 



In an individual from which this description is taken, the 

 tongue is ten twelfths of an inch long ; the oesophagus three 

 inches ; the stomach nearly circular, compressed, eleven twelfths 

 long, ten twelfths broad, seven twelfths thick ; the intestine 

 fifteen inches long, has a diameter of four twelfths in its duo- 

 denal portion ; the coeca six twelfths long, one twelfth in 

 diameter, vermiform and free, are placed at the distance of an 

 inch from the extremity of the intestine ; they admit none of 

 the alimentary mass, but secrete a mucous fluid. 



Length to end of tail 9i ; extent of wings 15|. 



Variations. — The above descriptions are of the plumage 

 when perfect, that is, in autumn after the moult. In the males, 

 in spring, the feathers by loosing their edges have become 

 narrower and more pointed, and the white markings greatly 

 diminished. The same effect takes place in a less degree in 



