sir KM 8. 521 



Sturnus huinii, Brooks, Ibis, Oct. 1876, p. 500; id. S. F. viii,p.487 ; 



Gould, B. Asia, v (descr., nee tig. 43 = S. menzbieri) ; Oates in 



Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. i, p 369. 

 Sturnus ambigims, Hume, S. F. iv, p. 512 (Dec. 1876), v, p. 238. 



The u Glossy Slack Starling, Jerd. 



Coloration. Summer. Black with a few fulvous specks, which 

 are sometimes absent on the flanks ; wings and tail brown, edged 

 with velvety black ; under wing-coverts dark brown, edged with 

 white. 



Winter. All the feathers of the upper plumage and wing-coverts 

 tipped with buff, the head alone in some old birds being spotless or 

 nearly so ; sides of head and lower plumage black, with large 

 whitish tips to the feathers of the flanks, lower abdomen, and 

 under tail-coverts. 



Gloss. Forehead, crown, nape, and sides of head purplish blue, 

 ear-coverts greenish ; throat, neck, upper breast, and back coppery 

 red ; rump, scapulars, wings, and abdomen bronze-green. 



The nestling is pale brown above and on the sides of the head 

 and neck ; lower plumage whitish streaked with brown ; sides of 

 the body uniformly brown. 



At the first autumn the colours and gloss of the adult are 

 assumed, but the terminal spots on the feathers remain very large and 

 numerous over the entire upper plumage, and the spots on the lower 

 plumage are also large, round, and pure white. In the first spring 

 these tips are in great measure cast off, but some few remain 

 throughout the first summer. 



Bill yellow; legs and feet reddish brown (Hume). 

 Length about 7*5; tail 2-2; wing 4-6; tarsus 1*15; bill from 

 gape 1'25. 



Distribution. Kashmir and the Himalayas to ^Sepal, occasionally 

 descending in winter to the plains, specimens having been procured 

 at Dinapore and Etawah, and in Sind. This species also occurs in 

 the extreme north-west of the Punjab, where it breeds. It extends 

 to Kandahar. 



Habits, $c. Breeds in the Punjab and in Kashmir in April and 

 May, in holes of willow-trees, &c. The eggs measure about 1/13 

 by : 83. 



530. Sturnus porphyronotus. The Central-Asian Starliny. 



Sturnus purpurascens, Gould, apud Hume, S. F. viii, p. 174 ; 



Brooks, S. F. viii, p. 488; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 79; Scully, 



Ibis, 1881, p. 573. 



Sturnus vulgaris, Linn., apud Scully, S. F. iv, p. 162. 

 Sturnus porphyronotus, Sharpe, Ibis, 1888, p. 438 ; id. Cat. B. M. 



xiii, p. 38, pi. 2. 



Coloration. Resembles S. liumii. 



Glo ; s. Head, throat, and fore neck bronzy green; whole upper 

 plumage and scapulars rich purple or purplish red ; wings coppery 

 bronze ; breast reddish violet ; abdomen coppery bronze. 



