STARIvINGS. 51 



VI. 



STARLINGS. 



By Dr. A. G. Butler. 



The Starlings of the World divide naturally into three 

 tolerably well-defined families — the NewWorld Starlings (^IcleridcB) 

 which appear to be related on tlie one side to the larger Weaver- 

 birds and on the other to the Old World Starlings ; tlie Old World 

 Starlings (^Sturyiida) with the exception of the true Grackles, 

 between which and i\\Q. IcleridcE they form an intermediate group, 

 and lastly the Grackles {Eiclabetida) which are nearer to the 

 Bower-birds and Crows in general appearance and outline. 



In the first of these families the bill of the male is gener- 

 ally markedly longer than in the female, and the bastard primary, 

 though well-developed, is shorter than its coverts and is therefore 

 called a remicle. In the second family the difierence in length 

 of bill in the sexes is much less marked and sometimes hardly 

 appreciable, but the bastard primary is longer than its coverts. 

 From the latter family the Eidabetidcs (represented by E?clabes 

 only) are readily separable by the remarkable difference of width 

 in the bills of male and female, the heavy, far more Crow-like, 

 character of the birds, and their possession of both face-wattles 

 and neck-lappets : it is also a group of hopping birds. 



I have thought it necessary to mention these points, 

 because the affinities of groups have some relation both to their 

 food and nidificaiion : thus the IcteridcB, which come nearest to the 

 Finches, are, as regards some of their members, seed-eaters to a 

 greater extent than either the Slmnidce or the EulabetidiS ; more- 

 over they contain species with finch- like beaks, and one species 



