254 STURNINA. 
clothing feathers long and lanceolate, becoming longer and more 
pointed at each moult. In very old birds the specks are said to 
disappear altogether, or nearly so. 
The young bird is dull brown. 
The Common Starling of Europe is a not uncommon winter 
visitant to Sind, Guzerat, and parts of Rajputana. It associates 
with the Common and Bank Mynas. It does not occur in the 
Deccan. 
Sturnus minor, Hume. 
681bis—Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 178. 
THE LESSER STARLING. 
Wing, 43; tarsus, 1; bill at front, 1. 
Bill yellow ; irides brown ; legs yellow. 
General character of plumage like that of the Common Starling ; 
but in the first place, the Common Starling has the reflections 
of the head purple, and of the back green, but in the present 
species the reflections of the head are green and the back 
urple. 
Secondly the wing 1s decidedly shorter. 
The bills of both are about equal in length, but those of minor 
are more pointed, have a more decided culmen ridge, and are 
less broad at the base. 
The Lesser Starling is a permanent resident in parts of Sind, 
breeding from March to June. The eggs are similar to those 
of the Common Starling, but are smaller. 
Genus, Acridotheres, Vecll. 
Bill rather short, stout, compressed; culmen gently curving 
and deflected; gonys slightly sloping upwards; nostrils almost 
concealed by the frontal plumes which extend above them their 
whole length; tail rounded; tarsus stout; feet strong; toes 
lengthened ; the laterals nearly equal; claws moderately curved. 
The head is more or less crested, and some of them have a 
naked space behind and under the eye. 
Acridotheres tristis, Zin. 
684.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 325; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 494; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 413; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 178; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 128. 
THE Common MYNA. 
Length, 10; wing, 5°25; tail, 3:5; tarsus, 14; bill at front, 
0°85. 
Bill yellow; irides red-brown with white specks; legs dull- 
yellow ; orbits deep-yellow. 
The whole head, with moderate occipital crest, neck and breast, 
glossy black; the rest of the plumage quaker or snuff-brown, 
