500 



THREMMAPHILIN.^. 



COW-BIRDS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 



The family of the Thremmaphilinae, which is composed of 

 the genera Gracula, Thremmaphilus, Buphaga, Sturnus, Stur- 

 nella, and a few others, has only two representative species 

 among the birds of Britain: the Spotted Starling, Sturnus 

 guttatus, and the Rose-coloured Cow-bird, Thremmaphilus ro- 

 seus. They are inferior in size to the birds of the family of 

 Corvina?, which they however greatly resemble in many re- 

 spects. Their body is ovate, compact, and moderately stout ; 

 their neck short ; their head of ordinary size, ovato-oblong, 

 flattened above, and narrowed anteriorly. 



The bill is generally about the length of the head, or some- 

 what shorter, moderately stout or rather slender, nearly straight, 

 compressed towards the end ; the upper mandible with its out- 

 line slightly convex towards the tip, the ridge very narrow at 

 the base, the nasal cavity being very large, the edges sharp and 

 overlapping, with a slight or obsolete notch close to the slightly 

 decurved tip ; the lower mandible with a long, rather acute 

 angle, its crura rather broad and sloping outwards, the dor^sal 

 outline straight or slightly convex, the edges sharp. 



Internally both mandibles are concave, with a central pro- 

 minent line. The characters presented by the intestinal canal 

 are similar to those of the genus Corvus, in the Spotted Star- 

 ling, which is the only bird of the genus dissected by me. 



The eyes are rather small, or of moderate size ; the eyelids 

 with a narrow crenate bare margin, close to which is a fringe 

 of very small feathers, the lower frequently bare. The nostrils 

 are of moderate size, oval, with a horny arched operculum, and 



