Starlings 785 



though the exact number laid by each is unknown; five to eight eggs are com- 

 monly found in each nest, these being yellowish white, rather boldly blotched 

 with olive and purplish brown. As soon as the young are hatched, another 

 nest is built, and so on until three or more broods are reared in a season, which 

 extends from September to December. 



Ground Choughs. The remaining genus of the group comprises some 

 four or five species known as Ground Choughs (Podoces), all of which are con- 

 fined to the sandy, barren districts of central Asia. They have very short wings, 

 which they use but little, being essentially ground birds of great fleetness of foot. 

 As they dwell in such inaccessible localities they are but little known, Pander's 

 Ground Chough (P. panderi) of Transcaspia and Turkestan being perhaps 

 best known. It is observed singly or in pairs and seems to mate for life, seldom 

 perching on a bush and rarely taking to wing. It feeds on insects and seeds 

 and builds its nest in a hole in the ground, laying three or four greenish gray, 

 spotted eggs. About ten inches long, this species is blue-gray above, becoming 

 creamy vinous on the rump, with the chin, throat, and under tail-coverts white, 

 while the wings are black and white and the tail black, as is a small spot in front 

 of the eye. 



THE STARLINGS 



(Family Sturnida) 



The present family is usually made to include the true Starlings, Mynas, 

 and the so-called Glossy Starlings, which are here set aside as a separate family 

 (Eulabetida), and, although it must be confessed the characters separating 

 them are not great nor seemingly very important, they are perhaps as important 

 as those characterizing many other oscinine "families." The true Starlings 

 are birds of medium size with strong tarsi and feet, usually a rather long, pointed 

 bill, the rictus entirely without bristles of any kind, and a moderately long, 

 pointed wing in which there are ten primaries, the first one, however, being 

 often minute. The tail of twelve feathers is extremely variable, ranging from 

 relatively long to short, and from much-graduated to square or even forked. 

 The plumage is in the main black, often brilliantly glossed with bronze, coppery, 

 purple, and lilac, and occasionally there is bright yellow; the sexes are alike 

 or nearly so and the plumage of the nestling is typically streaked below ; a num- 

 ber possess fine crests. 



The Starlings are quite widely distributed over the Old World, having their 

 center of abundance in the Indian and Ethiopian regions, with a number entering 

 the Palaearctic region, and one the Common Starling (Sturnus -vulgaris] 

 occasionally straying to Greenland and recently introduced into eastern North 

 America; they are, however, absent from Australia and New Zealand, except 

 as introduced species. A few of the forms are migratory, but the majority are 

 resident, and practically all are gregarious, going about often in large flocks. 

 While they frequent trees to some extent, they are mainly terrestrial, walking 



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