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Section V. OSCINES CULTRIROSTRES. 



Family STUENID5J. 



Genus STURNUS. 



Sturnus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 290 (1766). 

 Turdus apud Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813). 



This genus is represented in the Patearctic and northern portions of the Ethiopian and Oriental 

 Regions, three species being found within the limits of the Western Palaearctic Region. 



They are gregarious, frequenting groves, gardens, pastures, old ruins &c. ; and they are fond 

 of attending cattle and sheep, frequently perching on their backs to rid them of the parasitic 

 insects which infest them. Their flight is strong and swift ; and they walk and run with ease. 

 They feed on worms, insects, and larvae of various kinds, which they obtain chiefly on the 

 ground. Their song is tolerably pleasing; and when tamed they can be taught to whistle tunes 

 and even utter words. They make bulky nests of grass and roots, lined with feathers and hair, 

 which they place in a hole in a tree or wall or under the eaves of a roof, and deposit several 

 uniform pale greenish-blue eggs. 



Sturnus vulgaris, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long as the head, straight, 

 wider than high, blunt at the tip, the edges of the upper mandible extending over those of the 

 lower ; nostrils oblong, placed in the anterior part of the nasal depression, and partly overlain by 

 an operculum ; gape without bristles ; wings long, pointed, the first quill very small, the second 

 or third longest ; tail short, the feathers diverging at the tip ; legs strong, the tarsus covered in 

 front with four large and three inferior scutellse ; toes rather long, claws short, curved, laterally 

 grooved, acute ; plumage close ; feathers on the head and fore part of the body lanceolate. 



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