904 STARN—STEREORNITHES 



resident, the Starling is rather a late breeder. The nest is commonly 

 placed in the hole of a tree or of a building, and its preparation is 

 the work of some little time. The eggs, from 4 to 7 in numljer, 

 are of a very pale blue, often tinged with green. As .the young 

 grow they become very noisy, and their parents, in their assiduous 

 attendance, hardly less so, thus occasionally making themselves dis- 

 agreeable in a quiet neighbourhood. The Starling has a wide range 

 over Europe and Asia, reaching India ; but examples from Kashmir, 

 Persia and Armenia have been considered worthy of specific dis- 

 tinction, and some of them are suspected to occur occasionally in 

 England ((/. Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiii. pp. 26-38, and Journ. 

 fur Oni. 1891, pp. 307, 308), while the resident Starling of the 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean is generally regarded as a 

 good species, and called S. unicolor from its unspotted plumage. 



Of the many forms allied to the genus Siurnus, some of which 

 have perhaps been needlessly separated therefrom, those known as 

 Grackles (p. 378) and the beautiful Pastor (p. 698), which last, 



Lampkocolius. Lamprotornis. 



(After Swainson.) 



as suggested by Cuvier, seems to have been the Seleiccis of the 

 ancients, have been already mentioned ; but the so-called Glossy 

 Starlings of Africa, Lamprocolms and Lamjjrotornis, yet need that 

 their names should appear here. 



STARN or STERN, see Tern. 



STEGANOPODES, Illiger's name in 1811 for a group consist- 

 ing of the genera Pelecamis (Pelican), Haleus ( = Fhalacrocorax, 

 Cormorant), Dyspwus ( = /S'MZa,'GANNET) Phaethon (Tropic-bird), and 

 Plotus (Snake-bird) ; b}'^ many writers reasonably regarded as a 

 natural group or Order, though the application of the word can 

 hardly be commended by an etymologist, for a-reyavos (roofed, 

 covered or, in some cases, firm) can only be forced to signify the 

 connexion of all the toes by a single web. The Frigate-birds were 

 included by Illiger in the genus Haleus. 



STEREORNITHES,! the name conferred in 1891 by Senores 

 Moreno and Mercerat [Anales del Museo de La Plata, Paleontologia 

 Argentina, i. pp. 20, 37) on a proposed new Order of Birds, from 



^ For this article I am once more obliged to Mr. Lydekker, who enjoys the 

 enviable privilege of having twice visited South Amei'ica to examine the 

 marvellous fossil remains some of which are here briefly treated. — A. N. 



