Taiz MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
The gray-backed, or Chinese, starling has been taken in the Philip- 
pines but rarely; in addition to the specimens recorded by me from 
Calayan and Luzon, we havgggavo specimens that were killed near 
Manila. 
727. STURNIA PHILIPPENSIS (Forster). 
VIOLET-BACKED STARLING, 
Motacilla philippensis Forster, Ind. Zool. (1781), 41. 
Motacilla violacea BoppAERT, Tabl. Pl. Enl. (1783), 11. 
Sturnia violacea SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 70. 
Sturnia philippensis McGreeor, Bur. Govt. Laboratories, Manila (1905), 
25, 30; McGrecor and WorcESsTER, Hand-List (1906), 108. 
Bi-lit’ chi-na, Calayan. 
Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (Heriot, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere); Min- 
doro (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Steere); Palawan (Platen, Bourns &€ 
Worcester, White); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). Japan; in winter to 
Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas. 
Adult male (Calayan Island, October).—¥Forehead, crown, lores, chin, 
middle of throat, and area about eye white, dingy on top of head; neck, 
scapulars, and back black, glossed with purple; rump and upper tail- 
coverts white; chest, sides of neck, and ear-coverts vinous-chestnut- or 
bay, extending as a narrow band onto each side of hind neck and forming 
a nearly complete collar; sides of breast, sides of body, and flanks ash- 
gray ; middle of breast, abdomen, thighs, and crissum white ; wings black, 
glossed with green; outer primaries edged with white; some of the 
secondaries edged with white toward the base; middle and lesser second- 
ary-coverts, edge of wing, axillars, and wing-lining white; tail black, 
glossed with green; outermost pair of rectrices with outer webs white 
except near tips. Bill black, base of lower mandible white; iris brown; 
legs and feet dark green; nails brown. Length, 180; wing, 105; tail, 50; 
culmen from base, 18; bill from nostril, 12; tarsus, 24. 
Adult female (Calayan, October).—Resembles somewhat the female 
of Sturnia sinensis. Upper parts dingy brown with no gloss except on 
wings and tail; head, rump, and tail-coverts dirty whitish; under parts 
white, sides of breast and of abdomen faintly gray; ear-coverts and 
sides of neck washed with chestnut-brown ; primaries and primary-coverts 
black, glossed with green on the outer edges; second, third, and fourth 
primaries edged with white or whitish on outer webs; secondaries glossy 
brown, the three outer ones widely edged with white except at tips; 
secondary-coverts brown, the median coverts with broad white tips; alula 
quills black, edged with white; tail glossy blackish, outermost rectrices 
with whitish edges. Wing, 105; tail, 48; culmen from base, 18 ; tarsus, 24. 
Immature (Calayan, October).—Resembles the adult female, but the 
upper parts more earthy brown; secondary-coverts all brown, the median 
series with whitish tips; under parts whitish, ashy on the sides; throat 
and chest streaked with dull earthy brown. 
