26 STURNHXE AMYDRUS 



Genus II. AMYDRUS. 



Type. 

 Amydrus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i, p. 201 (1850) A. morio. 



Bill elongated, cone-shaped, broad at the base, compressed 

 from side to side near the tip ; culmen curved from base to tip ; 

 nostrils oval, pierced in a membrane towards the anterior end of a 

 groove. Wing : first primary one third the length of the second, 

 which equals the fifth ; the third and fourth equal and slightly 

 longer. Tail long, but somewhat shorter than the wing, graduated 

 or square ; the outstretched feet fall short of its end. Tarsus 

 robust, front toes long and rather slender, hind toe stronger, claws 

 curved and sharp, especially the hinder. Plumage slightly glossy, 

 the wing-quills orange-chestnut, or buff and chestnut with black 

 tips, in South African species. Sexes alike or nearly so. 



This genus includes five species distributed over South, East 

 and North-east Africa. They frequent rocky localities and feed 

 on insects, berries and fruit. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Wing 6'25 ; quills orange-chestnut with black tips ; tail 



5'75, graduated A. morio, p. 26. 



b. Wing 5*40, quills buff with black tips, the outer webs of 



the outermost only chestnut ; tail 4*60, square A. caffer, p. 28. 



,^i 



7. Amydrus morio. Red-winged Starling. 



Turdus morio, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 297 (1766). 



Le Eoupenne, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. ii, p. 134, pis. 83, 84 (1801). 



Juida morio, Gray, Genera B. ii, p. 327 (1846) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 173 (1867). 



Amydrus morio, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i, p. 201 (1850) ; Holub and Pel- 

 zelm, Orn. SiLdafr. p. 112 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zoolo- 

 gist, 1882, p. 256 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard 'sB. S. Afr. pp. 431, 846 (1884) ; 

 id. Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 161 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 44 (1896). 



" Bed- winged Spreeuw." " Kooivlerk " (Eedwing) of the Dutch. 



Description. Adult male. Above, with the scapulars and lesser 

 wing-coverts, glossy blue-black with violet reflections ; other coverts 

 glossy black with greenish-blue reflections ; secondaries blue-black ; 

 primaries orange-chestnut, tipped and partly edged on the inner 

 web with black ; tail black glossed with steel-green ; entire head 



