THE CHINESE STARLING. 



Pastor cristatei.lvs. Temm. 



On a superficial view of the groups composing tlic 

 Insessorial or Perching Order, which comprehends so 

 large a proportion of the feathered tribes, their general 

 resemblance appears by no means so striking as in the 

 other leading subdivisions of the Class. The great 

 diversity of their habits, especially as regards their food, 

 is connected with corresponding varieties in the struc- 

 ture of the organs subservient to nutrition ; and the 

 bill in particular, which forms the most important fea- 

 ture in the physiognomy of birds, nms through an 

 almost endless series of variations. In one very nume- 

 rous subdivision, tlic Tenuirostres of M. Cuvier, in 

 which it is destined to penetrate the long tubular 

 flowers in quest of honev, it is Icngtliened and atte- 

 nuated ; while in anotlior, the Fissirostres, where its 

 Biuns. n 



