THE STARLINGS OF INDIA. 175 



1. — S. vulgaris. — Thisis tbelodian form of our common Eng- 

 lish Starling, having, as a rule, a somewhat longer and less 

 spatulate bill, and being possibly rather more brightly colored, 

 but not in my opinion entitled to specific separation from the 

 European bird. This species is common (mostly as a cold 

 season visitant) in Beloochistan, AfFghanistan, Cashmere (where 

 it breeds), the entire Punjab, Sindh, Rajpootana, North-West 

 Provinces and Oudh, spreading still further south and east 

 into Bengal and the Central Provinces, but exactly how far in 

 each direction I have not ascertained. 



This species is almost always profusely spotted, and never so 

 far as my experience goes — and I have 50 specimens before me 

 at the present moment — loses the spottings on the upper surface, 

 and nine out of ten birds are profusely spotted on the lower as 

 well as the upper surface. 



2. — S. purpurascens. — I take this bird to be Gould's species. 

 It has the whole upper parts, exeluditjg the head, a puce purple, 

 very different indeed from the green of vulgaris^ and it has the 

 head green, while vulgaris has this purple. No doubt Gould 

 gives the wing as 5|, whereas with us the wing varies from 

 5 to 53. This is a rare bird in India, comparatively speaking, 

 and I have only obtained it in various parts of the Punjab, and 

 in Dehra, and Etawah of the North-West Provinces, never in 

 Sindh or Hajpootana. 



Besides the difference in color, it is on the whole a less spot- 

 ted bird than the previous species. 



3. — S. nobilior, nobis; N. Sp. — This, again, is a very distinct ~f~— 

 and handsome species, perhaps the handsomest of all. The 

 majority of adults have only a little spotting, small arrow head 

 white spots, on the interscapulary region ; old adults entirely 

 want this. 



Compared with the Sardinian Starling, its very varied colors, 

 puce purple, purplish bronze green, and bronzy green, separate 

 it at once. 



From nitens, its larger size, totally different color of the back 

 and mantle equally separate it. 



It is the Starling of Kandahar and its neighbourhood, and I 

 daresay of Cabul generally ; and I have one specimen procured 

 at Murdan just on the frontiers of Cabul — a young bird, and 

 showing far more spotting than any Cabul specimen. 



4. — S. minor. — This is a lovely little species, most resemb- 

 ling purpurascens, but differing in the much smaller size, the 

 lesser amount of spotting in the adult, the redder purple of the 

 back, and the color of the metallic portions of the wings, which 

 are bronzed gi'een in minor, and a purplish coppery bronze in 

 purpurascens. 



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