276 BIRDS. 



We should distinguish among the number a species with a some- 

 what shorter bill, which therein approaches the FringiUa, Cuv. 



Icterus pecoris, Tem. ; Emberiza pecoris, Wils. II, xviii. 1, 2, and 

 Enl. 606, 1. (The Cow Bunting). A violet black ; head and neck 

 a brown-grey. Lives in flocks among the cattle; but the most pe- 

 culiar trait in its habits is that, Hke the cuckoo, it lays its eggs in 

 other birds' nests*. 



[OxYEYNCHus, Teu. 



The conical and pointed bill of Xanthornus, but it is shorter than the 

 head. 



The species known, Oxyr. fiammiceps, T. ; O. cristatus, Swains. 

 111. Ill, 49; Col. 125, has a partly red tuft on the head, like several 

 of the Tyrants. The 



Dacnis, Cuv. — Pit-Pits, Buff. 



Resemble Xanthorni in miniature in their conical and short beak. They 

 connect that subgenus with Regulus. The species known, Mot. cayana, 

 L. ; Enl. 669; Vieill. Gal. 165, is a small blue and black bird. 



Sturnus, Lin. 



The Starlings only differ from the Xanthorni in having a bill that is 

 depressed, especially near the point. 



S. vulgaris, L. ; Enl. 75 ; Naum, 62. (The Common Starling). 

 Black, with violet and green reflections, every where spotted with 

 white or fawn colour. The young male is of a brown grey. It is 

 found in great numbers throughout the whole of the eastern continent, 

 feeds on insects, and is of use to cattle by relieving them from their 

 attacks. It flies in large and crowded flocks, is easily tamed, and 

 may be taught to sing and even to speak. It leaves France in win- 

 ter. Its flesh is disagreeable f . 



We can find no sufficient character to enable us to distinguish from the 



* Gmel. cites fig. 606, 1, of the PI. Enl., as Oriolus minor; it is a mistake. 



f Add the Sturnus unicolor of the south of Europe, Tem. Col. 3 ; Vieill. Gal., pi. 

 xci; — St. capensis, Enl. 280, from which the St. contra, Albin. Ill, 21, does not differ, 

 but which is from the Indies, and not from the Cape; — St. militaris, Enl. 113; — St. 

 ludovicianus, Enl. 256, the same as the Alauda magna, Gm. Catesb. 1, 33, or the 

 Stoiirnelle a collier, Vieill. Gal. pi. xc, and Wils. Ill, xix, 2; — the Etourneau a camail 

 rouge {Oriolus ruber, Gm.), Sonner. Nouv. g. pi. Ixviii, or Amhlyramphus tricolor, 

 Leach, Zool. Misceh, pl. xxxvi; a beautiful species from the steppes of Buenos 

 Ayres, and not fi-om India, as stated by Sonnerat. 



N. B. The St. cinclus forms, as we have seen, a genus allied to the Thrushes; the 

 S, sericeus. Brown, III, 21, is rather a Gracula, Cuv.; the St. collaris is the same as 

 the Fauvette of the Alps {accentor). The St, carunculalus should, I think, go along 

 with Philedon. 



The species of Osbec, Hernandez, &c. are not well authenticated; as to those of 

 Pallas, it is to be regretted that we have no figures of them. The Stournes of Daudiu 

 must be replaced with the Thrushes, or the Philedons, and his Quiscales, partly with 

 the Graculae, Cuv. and partly with Cassicus. Daudin, generally speaking, completed 

 the confusion of this genus, sufficiently entangled by his predecessors. 



