40 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Typical Starlings. 



UNSPOTTED STARLING (Sfurnus unicolor). 



Uniform glossy black with purple reflections ; wings 

 and tail blackish-brown ; inner primaries and secondaries 

 paler towards the tips, and fringed with black ; bill 

 yellow ; feet pale brown ; irides dark brown. Female 

 rather duller, and with a shorter wing. Hab., the 

 countries of the Mediterranean. 



J. L. S. Whitaker observes (" Birds of Tunisia," 

 Vol. II., pp. 4, 5) : " S. nninilor is to be met with, as 

 a rule, in small colonies in the neighbourhood of cliffs 

 and rocky, broken country, which afford suitable shelter 

 and convenient nesting places for the birds. Near 

 Kasrin the character of the country is eminently 

 adapted to this Starling's requirements, and many of 

 tlK birds consequently breed there. The nests are 

 placed in the holes and crevices of the cliffs, and are 

 loosely constructed of dry grasses or straw, with a 

 lining of feathers. The eggs, of which the usual com- 

 plement is four to six, are indistinguishable from those 

 of the common Starling, being generally considerably 

 elongated in shape and of a uniform glossy pale blue- 

 green colour. Measurements, 29 by 21 mm. 



" Like 8. vulgaris, the present species is veiy noisy 

 and a great chatterer, particularly during the breeding 

 season, and, like its relative, whistles not unpleasantly. 

 The diet of this, like that of other Starlings, consists 

 mainly of worms, grubs, and insects of different kinds, 

 but there is no doubt these birds occasionally feed on 

 grain, berries, and other vegetable matter, and they 

 may, indeed, be considered omnivorous, as they also 

 jevour eggs, and at times even young birds." 



Russ says that this bird arrives in the market 

 extremely rarely and hardly ever gets into the hands 

 of aviculturists : it reached the Amsterdam Zoological 

 Gardens in 1866, has on several occasions been exhibited 

 in our London Gardens, and one example reached Die 

 Berlin Gardens, about 1897 apparently. 



Starling- like Mynahs. 



GRKV STARLING (Poliopsar cineraceus). 



Above greyish drab, the edges of the feathers brown ; 

 rump white; upper tail-coverts greyish, the base of 

 the feathers dark brown ; median and greater coverts 

 dark brown, bronzy olivaceous towards the tips ; remain- 

 ing wing-feathers blackish ; primaries with narrow 

 whity-brown fringes ; outer secondaries with white 

 edges, inner ones bronzy olivaceous like the greater 

 covert? ; central tail-feathers bronze-brown ; the 

 remainder black, slightly greenish on outer webs and 

 edged with whitish ; crown greenish black ; forehead 

 whitish, continued in a line over eyes ; sides of head 

 white or whitish streaked with blackish ; chin white ; 

 hinder part of cheeks, throat, sides of neck and breast 

 dark slate-grey, paler on sides of breast ; centre of 

 breast and abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; sides, 

 flanks, and thighs drab ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries white, the former partly edged with blackish ; 

 flights below dusky with, ashy inner edges ; bill reddish- 

 orange, the tip blackish ; feet ochre-yellow ; irides 

 brawn, circled with white (or white, according to R. 

 Swinhoe). Female rather browner, throat and breast 

 brown with central whitish streaks. Hab., E. Siberia 

 to Japan ; throughout China and Formosa, extending 

 into Upper Burma (Sharpe). 



According to Blakiston and Pryer (The Ibis, 1878, 

 p. 233) this species breeds in holes in fir-trees. Seebohm 

 says the eggs resemble rather small and dark eggs of 

 the European Starling. 



According to Mr. Walter Goodfellow (cf. Th< Jbi-<, 

 1907, p. 160), "the Grey Starling winters on the 

 plains" in Formosa. 



David and Oustaiet say: "The Grey Starling is 

 certainly that species of Starling which one finds most 

 abundant in China. In autumn and winter it ranges 

 in countless flocks over the entire kingdom, and the 

 sweet husks of the Sophora japonica afford it abundant 

 food. Great numbers of these. Starlings remain in the 

 plains of Pekic, and build their nests in holes in trees ; 

 but in summer they all disappear, to spend the 

 remainder of the warm season on the high plateaux of 

 Mongolia, where they live upon insects, and especially 

 grasshoppers. The chattering of this Starling is very 

 pleasing, and may be heard in good weather even in 

 the middle of winter" (cf. Russ, "Die Fremdlandischen 

 Stubenvogel, Vol. II., p. 484). 



According to Mrs. Domes, the nest, in Siberia, is 

 formed of dry stalks, and lined with grouse-feather.*. 

 in a hole in a tree naturally ; five to seven eggs form 

 a clutch. 



Russ says this may be accounted one of the rarest 

 to appear in the bird market, and he only includes it 

 for the sake of making his work complete ; yet it seems. 

 to me that the commonest Starling in China is a bird 

 extremely likely to be freely imported at some time or 

 other. 



SILKY STARLING (Poliopsar c 



Pale ash-grey, a little darker on back of neck, a little 

 paler on rump and upper tail-coverts, which have 

 whitish margins ; scapulars externally white, with a 

 subterminal black shade ; lesser wing-coverts blackish 

 edged with slate-grey; median coverts purplish black; 

 greater coverts black, glossy green externally ; primary- 

 coverts Avhite, the tips black near the centre ; primaries 

 white at base, otherwise black, externally glossed 

 purple ; secondaries like the greater coverts, but bluish 

 or purple towards the tips ; central tail-feathers glossy 

 green ; the others black with green or purple suffusion 

 externally ; head all round white ; breast, sides and 

 flanks ash-grey tinged with brown; thighs white in 

 front ; under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and 

 axillaries white ; flights below dusky, greyish on inner 

 edge, white at base ; bill bright red, white tipped : 

 feet orange ; irides black. Female browner, more ashy 

 on rump ; the gloss on wings and tail less marked ; 

 primary-coverts blackish-brown near base, white with 

 central black streak at tips ; head less white, sides 

 of crown, hind neck and cheeks ashy ; under surface of 

 body light brown where grey in the male ; possibly 

 immature (Sharpe.) Hab., Central and South China.' 



I can discover nothing about the wild life, but it is 

 probably very similar to that of the preceding species. 

 Russ has omitted it, so that he evidently did not think 

 it necessary to the completion of his work ; yet it has 

 been purchased and exhibited in the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1883. 1890, and 1891 (five specimens), and 

 therefore can hardly be one of the rarest birds to appear 

 in the market. 



ANDAMAN STARLING (Poliopsar andamanensis). 



Above ashy-grey, whiter on the rump ; scapulars 

 edged with white ; wings black ; the lesser-coverts 

 edged with slate-grey ; flights glossy greenish exter- 

 nally ; tail black, glossed with green, all the feathers 

 excepting the central ones with a white marking, in- 

 creasing in size outwardly, at end of inner web, the 

 outermost being half white ; head and neck all round 

 and under surface white ; vent and under tail-coverts 

 tinted with fawn ; flights below dusky with ashy inner 



