THE CHINESE STARLING. 245 



They are natives of every quarter of the globe, become 

 tolerably familiar in captivity, have great imitative 

 powers, and are remarkably docile. 



The characters of the genus Pastor consist in an 

 elongated conical bill, compressed on the sides, and 

 very slightly arched, with a trifling notch in the upper 

 mandible towards the point, and a strongly marked 

 angle in the commissure near the base ; the nostrils 

 oval and lateral, partly closed by a membrane clothed 

 with slender feathers ; a naked space round the eyes ; 

 the first quill-feather very short ; and the second, third, 

 and fourth, the longest of the series. It is strictly 

 confined to the Old World, and is most abundant in 

 Africa and the East ; but one of its species frequently 

 visits Europe, and sometimes makes its way even into 

 Britain. 



The present species, which is found abundantly in 

 Java and China, is considered by M. Cuvier as scarcely 

 a variety of the Pastor tristis, the Martin of the 

 Planches Enluminees. In that extensive collection of 

 figures it occurs under the name of Merle Huppe de 

 la Chine, and is also represented in Edwards' Birds 

 under that of Chinese Starling or Blackbird. The 

 prevailing colour of the bird is black with a slightly 

 grayish gloss, varied only by a small white patch 

 spreading over the lower halves of the quill-feathers of 

 the wings, and a second occupying the extremities of 

 the lateral quills of the tail. A slight crest of longer 

 feathers, capable of being raised at pleasure, occupies 

 the fore part of the head. The iris is of a bright straw- 

 colour; the bill and spaces surrounding the eyes light 

 yellow ; and the legs of a somewhat deeper shade. The 

 bird measures eight or nine inches in total length, and 

 its wings when closed reach to about the middle of 

 the tail. 



