530 STURNIDJE. 



Genus AGROPSAR, n. gen. 



I institute this genus for the reception of A. sturninus, which 

 differs from Sturnia sinensis in having portions of the plumage 

 glossy, a shorter and more massive bill, a more pointed wing, and 

 a tail which is much shorter and forked. The nasal membrane is 

 moreover nearly bare, being plumed merely at the posterior corner. 

 The sexes are alike. 



A. sturninus appears to resemble the Mynas of the genus Sturnia 

 in habits, feeding both on the ground and on trees. 



542. Agropsar sturninus. The Daurian Myna. 



Gracula sturnina, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii, p. 695 (1776). 



Sturnus dauricus, Pall. Acta Holm. 1778, p. 197, t. vii. 



Sturnia daurica (Pall.}, Blyth, Cat. p. 111. 



Calornis d auric us (Pall.), Blyth, Cat. App. p. xx : Horsf. fy M. Cat. 



ii, p. 544; Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burin, p. 91. 

 Temenuchus dauricus (Pall.), Hume, S. F. ii, p. 249. 

 Sturnia sturnina (Pall.), Hume fy 2)av. 8. F. vi, p. 893 ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 689 sex ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 192 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 383 j 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 71. 



Fig. 157. Head of A. sturninus. 



Coloration. The whole head, neck, under wing-coverts, and 

 axillaries, and the whole lower plumage except the vent and under 

 tail-coverts grey, paler beneath and darkest on the crown ; chin 

 and throat tinged with fawn ; vent and under tail-coverts buff ; 

 back, rump, and lesser wing-coverts, with a large spot on the 

 crown of the head, metallic purple ; a band of buff across the 

 rump ; tail metallic green, the outer webs of the outer pair of 

 feathers buff; median wing-coverts black, broadly tipped with 

 white tinged with buff ; greater coverts black, edged with metallic 

 green and tipped with buffy white; primary-coverts black edged with 

 metallic green ; the scapulars with most of their outer webs buff, 

 and the inner webs black at base and buffy brown at the ends ; 

 primaries brown edged and tipped with metallic green, and the 

 first few primaries further edged mesially with buffish brown ; 

 secondaries brown, edged with metallic green; tertiaries almost 

 wholly metallic green ; the secondaries have a patch of buffish 

 brown near the base of the outer webs. 



In some birds the grey of the head and neck is produced on to 

 the upper back and is streaked with brown. 



