VII STURNIDAE 559 
with olive spots. P. humilis frequents more grassy ground up 
to eleven thousand feet. 
Fam. XXIV. Sturnidae.—The Starlings, apparently connect- 
ing the Corvidae and the Icteridae, are divided by Mr. Oates ' and 
Dr. Sharpe * into Hulabetidae (Tree-Starlings) with rictal bristles, 
more arboreal habits, and usually spotted eges, and Sturnidae (Star- 
lings proper) where the contrary holds good.? To these Buphaga 
may be added for the present, in default of a better position. 
The bill is generally long and pointed—especially in Sturno- 
pastor,—but is exceptionally slender in Cinnamopterus, shorter and 
stouter in Basilornis, Buphaga, Pastor, Pholidauges, and Aplonis ; 
being curved in the last three, and also in Fregilupus and Necropsar ; 
where it is longer. The anteriorly scutellated metatarsus is 
ordinarily strong, and is shortest in the Tree-Starlings. The 
wing is usually moderate, with small first primary, though it is 
more elongated and pointed in Sturnus and Dilophus, rounded in 
Sturnopastor, Temenuchus, and so forth, short in Coceycolius and 
Buphaga ; the secondaries have long filamentous basal append- 
ages in Psaroglossa, and loose hair-like exterior webs in Onycho- 
gnathus. The tail varies from short to long, from square to 
much graduated ; it is forked in Sturnia, and may have acuminate 
feathers; while Macruropsar and Lamprotornis possess excep- 
tionally developed rectrices, LZ. caudatus having the broad median 
pair longer than the body. Lanceolate feathers commonly adorn 
the neck and breast ; bushy crests occur in Pastor and Temenuchus, 
smaller tufts in Sturnia, Basilornis, Enodes, Fregilupus, Gracu- 
lipica, Sturnornis and Acridotheres cristatellus ; recurved plumes 
may cover the nostrils, as in Acridotheres, Ampeliceps, and Basil- 
ornis ; while bare chins, orbits, or ear-patches of brown, yellow, 
and the like are frequent. Charitornis has the throat and cheeks 
naked; Dilophus the head and throat bare, with two erect wattles 
above and one below; Sarcops dull-red naked orbits, and merely 
a narrow feathered line down the crown; Hulabes a yellow post- 
ocular lappet forking to the back of the eye and the eyebrow, and 
a yellow patch below; Hnodes a broad, superciliary wax-like red 
line; and Seissirostrwm similar crimson feathers on the rump. 
l Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, i. 1889, p. 363. 
2 A Review of Recent Attempts to Classify Birds, 1891 (2nd Internat. Orn. Congress). 
3 For Paramythia montium, of New Guinea, a dull-blue bird with creamy head, 
black crest and fore-neck, olive-green rump-region, yellow vent, and brownish 
wings ; cf. Sclater, Jiéc, 1893, pp. 248-245 ; Hartert, Novitat. Zool. ili. pp. 18, 14. 
