0. 
STURNIDA:s — STURNINA!: TYPICAL STARLINGS. 427 
rest rapidly graduated. ‘Tail of 12 feathers, emarginate, little more than half as long as the 
wing. Feet short; tarsus of strictly oscine podotheea, scutellate and laminiplantar, about as 
long as middle toe without its claw. Lateral toes of subequal lengths, their claws falling 
short of base of middle claw; hind claw about as long as its digit. Plumage metallic and 
iridescent, the feathers all distimetly outlined. 
S. vulga/ris. (Lat. vulgaris, vulgar, common. Fig. 277.) THe Sraruinc. Adult: Gen- 
eral plumage of metallic lustre, iridescing dark green on most parts, more steel-blue on the 
under parts, and violet or purplish-blue on the tore parts ; more or less variegated throughout 
with pale ochraceous or whitish tips of the feathers. Wings and tail fuscous, the exposed 
parts of the feathers somewhat frosty or silvery, with velvety-black and pale ochrey margin- 
ings, the former within the latter. Bill yellowish; feet reddish. Young and in winter: 
Plumage more heavily variegated throughout, with larger tawny-brown spots ou the upper 
parts, and white ones below; wings and tail strongly edged with brown; bill dark. Length 
about 8.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.75; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25. Europe, 
ete., one of the longest and best known of birds. Has straggled to Greenland in one known 
instance. 
2. SusorpER PASSERES MESOMYODI, OR CLAMATORES: 
NON-MELODPIOUS OR SONGLESS PASSERES. 
Mesomyodian scutelliplantar Passeres with ten fully developed primaries. — Syrinx with 
fewer than four distinct pairs of intrinsic muscles inserted at the middle of the upper bronchial 
half-rings, representing the mesomyodian type of voice-organ, and constituting an uncompli- 
cated and ineffective musical apparatus. Side and back of tarsus, as well as the front, covered 
with variously arranged scutella, so that there is no sharp undivided ridge behind (as, e. g., 
in fig. 280, a). Ten fully developed primaries, the Ist of which, if not equalling or exceed- 
ing the 2d, is at least $ as long. (See p. 240, where the Oscines are defined as acro- 
myodian laminiplantar Passeres with 9 fully-developed primaries, or 10 and the Ist short 
or spurious. ) 
The essential character of this group, as distinguished from Oscines, is thus seen to be an 
anatomical one, consisting in the non-development of a singing apparatus; the vocal muscles of 
the lower larynx (syrimx) being small and few, or else forming simply a fleshy mass, not sepa- 
rated into particular muscles; in either case inserted in a special manner into the bronchial half- 
rings. This character, though subject to some uncertainty of determination, corresponds well 
with the principal external character assignable to the group, namely, a certain condition of the 
tarsai envelope rarely if ever seen in the higher Passeres. If the leg of a King-bird, for example, 
be closely examined, it will be seen covered with a row of scutella forming cylindrical plates 
continuously enveleping the tarsus like a segmented scroll, and showing on its postero-internal 
face a deep groove where the edges of the envelope come together; this groove widening into 
a naked space above, partially filled in behind with a row of small plates. With some minor 
modifications, this seutelliplantar condition marks the Clamatorial birds, and is something 
tangibly different from the typical Oscine or laminiplantar character of the tarsus, which consists 
in the presence on the sides of entire corneous lamine meeting behind in a sharp ridge. And 
even when, as in the cases of the oscine Hremophila and Ampelis, there is extensive subdivision 
of the lamin on the sides or behind, the arrangement does not exactly answer to the above 
_ description. The Clamatores represent the lower Passeres, approaching the large order 
Picari@ (see beyond) in the steps by which they recede from Oseines, yet well separated from 
the Piearian birds. The families composing the suborder, as commonly received, are few in 
number; only one of them is represented in North America, north of Mexico. 
