134 BIRD GALLERY. 



with bristles at the base of the bill, and iu laying spotted eggs. They 

 range from Africa, through India and the Moluccan Islands, to 

 Australia. The most familiar are the Grackles or Talking Mynas 

 (Eulabes) (2727-8), many of which are well-known cage-birds, and can 

 be easily taught to repeat words or sounds. 



To this group also belong the beautiful Glossy Starlings {Lampro- 

 colius) (2747-8) of Africa, the remarkable Yellow-breasted Cosmopsarus 

 reyim (2741) of Somaliland, and Calornis (2736-8) of the Indian and 

 Australian regions. 



Family XLI. Sturnid.b. Starlings. 



[Case 83.1 ^^^^ widely-distributed group is peculiar to the Old World. The 

 young iu first plumage are streaked, and in this respect Starlings differ 

 from the Crows, but they resemble the latter in their mode of progres- 

 sion, walking, instead of hopping like Finches and most of the other 

 Passeres. The Common Starling [Sturnus vulgaris) (2718) is a common 

 resident in the British Islands, its numbers being augmented by an 

 additional host of migrants in the autumn and winter. Like its 

 allies, though principally an insect-feeder, it is extremely partial to 

 fruit, and does great damage in cherry-orchards. Another species 

 which has occurred as a straggler in our islands is the Rose-coloured 

 Pastor {Pastor roseus) (2718). Basileornis (2723-4) is represented by 

 a fine crested species found in Ceram. A curious aberrant form is the 

 Ox-pecker or Rhinoceros Bird {Buphaga) (2761), so-called on account of 

 its habit, shared with other members of the family, of settling on the 

 backs of cattle, camels, &c., to extract the grubs which infest them. 



Family XLII. PTiLONORHYNCHiDiE. Bower-Birds. 



(Plates XXIII. fig. 2, & XXIV.) 



rCentral ^^^ Bower-Birds, which are undoubtedly closely allied to the Birds 



Table- of Paradise and Crows, are peculiar to New Guinea and Australia. 



c»vs -J 'p]2ey have received their name from their peculiar habit of building 



bowers or runs where the males meet to play or pay their court to the 



females. The bowers are built long before the birds begin to construct 



their nest, which is placed in a tree. 



The species of Ptilonorhynchus (2752), Chlamydodera (2763-5), and 

 Sericulus (2756) construct arbour-like galleries of uncertain length, 

 ornamented with shells, bright feathers, and other decorative materials. 

 Newton's Bower-Bird {Prionodura) (2767) erects an enormous structure 

 of sticks, sometimes eight feet in height and of a complicated archi- 

 tecture, the main structure being supplemented by dwarf hut-like 

 , buildings. The Gardener Bower-Birds {Amblyornis) (2768) build a 



