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THE CHINESE STARLING. 



Pastor cristatellus. Temm. 



On a superficial view of the groups composing the 

 Insessorial or Perching Order, vvhicli 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, runs through an 

 almost endless series of variations. In one very nume- 

 rous subdivision, the Tenuirostres of M. Cuvier, in 

 which it is destined to penetrate the long tubular 

 flowers in quest of honey, it is lengthened and atte- 

 nuated ; while in another, the Fissirostres, where its 



BIRDS. R 



