[Case 83. ] 
[Central 
Table- 
case. | 
134: BIRD GALLERY. 
with bristles at the base of the bill, and in laying spotted eggs. They 
range from Africa, through India and the Moluccan Islands, to 
Australia. The most familiar are the Grackles or Talking Mynas 
(Eulabes) (2127-8), many of which are well-known cage-birds, and can 
be easily taught to repeat words or sounds. 
To this group also belong the beautiful Glossy Starlings (Lampro- 
colius) (2747-8) of Africa, the remarkable Yellow-breasted Cosmopsarus 
regius (2741) of Somaliland, and Calornis (2136-8) of the Indian and 
Australian regions. 
Family XLI. Sturnip#. Srarwines. 
This widely-distributed group is peculiar to the Old World. The 
young in first plumage are streaked, and in this respect Starlings differ 
from the Crows, but they resemble the latter in their mode of progres- 
sion, walking, instead of hopping like Finches and most of the other 
Passeres. The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) (2716) is a common 
resident in the British Islands, its numbers being augmented by an 
additional host of migrants in the autumn and winter. Like its 
allies, though principally an insect-feeder, it is extremely partial to 
fruit, aud does great damage in cherry-orchards. Another species 
which has occurred as a straggler in our islands is the Rose-coloured 
Pastor (Pastor roseus) (2119).  Basileornis (2123-4) is represented by 
a fine crested species found in Ceram. A curious aberrant form is the 
Ox-pecker or Rhinoceros Bird (Buphaga) (21751), so-called on account of 
its habit, shared with other members of the family, of settling on the 
backs of cattle, camels, &c., to extract the grubs which infest them. 
Family XLII. Prironoruyncuips. Bowerr-Brrps. 
(Plates XXIII. fig. 2, & XXIV.) 
The Bower-Birds, which are undoubtedly closely allied to the Birds 
of Paradise and Crows, are peculiar to New Guinea and Australia. 
They have received their name from their peculiar habit of building 
bowers or runs where the males meet to play or pay their court to the 
females. The bowers are built long before the birds begin to construct 
their nest, which is placed in a tree. 
The species of Ptilonorhynchus (2162), Chlamydodera (2758-5), and 
Sericulus (2786) construct arbour-like galleries of uncertain length, 
ornamented with shells, bright feathers, and other decorative materials. 
Newton’s Bower-Bird (Prionodura) (2151) erects an enormous structure 
of sticks, sometimes eight feet in height and of a complicated archi- 
tecture, the main structure being supplemented by dwarf hut-like 
buildings. The Gardener Bower-Birds (Amblyornis) (2758) build a 
