520 STUfiNIDJE. 



is glossed with red, purple,. and blue, and by the hackled feathers of 

 the head, throat, and breast. They have a winter and a summer 

 plumage, the change from the winter to the summer garb being 

 caused by the casting of the buff tips of the feathers, and the colour 

 of the bill changes according to season. The young are much 

 streaked below, and do not resemble the adult till the lirst autumn. 

 The sexes are closely, if not absolutely, alike. 



The Starlings are gregarious. They feed chiefly on the ground, 

 on insects and worms, but they are fond of fruit and berries, which 

 they pick off trees. They breed in holes of trees, walls, and 

 buildings, making a slovenly nest of straw and feathers. 



In Sturnus the bill is as long as the head, broad, blunt, and 

 straight. The nostrils are covered by a membrane which is 

 feathered on the posterior half. The wing is very sharp, but the 

 tail short and square. 



Most of the true Starlings are migratory in a greater or less 

 degree. 



The six species which occur in India are closely allied, but they 

 may be separated by the colour of the gloss on the feathers. 

 This gloss varies in each species, and is in each instance correlated 

 with a certain geographical distribution, so that we may look on 

 these Starlings as constituting well-defined species. I have had 

 no difficulty in separating the various species treated of here, both 

 the colours and the dimensions being very constant in each 

 species. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Head green or blue ; interecapulary region 



red. 



'. Rump bronze-green AS', humii, p. 520. 



b'. Rump red like the back. 



a". Wing coppery-bronze, over 5 #. porpkyronotua, p. 521. 



b". Wing bronze-green, about 4'5 S. minor, p. ">22. 



b. Head purplish red ; interscapulary region 



green. 



c . Scapulars, wings, and back uniformly 

 green ; under wing-coverts edged with 



buff S. menzbieri, p. 522. 



(1! . Scapulars, wings, and bick not of one 

 colour ; under wing-coverts edged with 

 white. 



c". Back green; scapulars bine; wings red S. poltaratzsldi, p. 523. 

 d". Back green ; scapulars and wings red ti. purpurast-ens, p. 524. 



529. Sturnus humii. The Himalayan Starling. 



Sturnus indicus, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 84 (1844, descr. 



nulla) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 35 (1889). 

 Sturnus splendens, Bonap. Consp. Av. i, p. 421 (1850, e.t Temm. 



MS., descr. nulla). 



Sturuus unicolor, M armor a, apnd. Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 322. 

 Sturnus nitens, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 410 (rtec Brelwi) ; Hume $ 



Henders. Lali. to Yarlt. p. 250, pi. xxiv ; Hume, N. ty E. p. 425 ; 



id. S. F. iii, p. 409; id. Cut. no. 682; id. S. F. viii, p. 174. 



