410 



and the Cashmere valley generally. Mr. Blanford has lent to me a large series of Starlings 

 collected by him in Persia and Baluchistan, amongst which I find none referable to Mr. Gould's 

 Sturnus purpurascens ; but two obtained near Shiraz, in Persia, are, I should say, identical with 

 Sturnus nitens, Hume, though one is slightly spotted ; and a third, from the Elburz Mountains, 

 is intermediate between Sturnus nitens and Sturnus vulgaris, and might, with almost equal 

 propriety, be referred to either. All the remaining specimens are absolutely identical with our 

 Common European Starling. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. Gould for the loan of his types of Sturnus purpurascens, which I 

 took to the British Museum and compared with the type of Sturnus nitens, Hume, and find that 

 they are fairly distinguishable. Sturnus purpurascens has the head, neck, and breast shot with 

 rich metallic green, and the rest of the underparts, the back, wings, and wing-coverts glossed 

 with rich lake-purple ; whereas S. vulgaris and S. nitens have the head, neck, and breast glossed 

 with purple, and the rest of the body, wings, and wing-coverts with metallic-green. I cannot 

 better describe S. nitens than by saying that it is coloured precisely like S. vulgaris, but is 

 unspotted, except on the lower part of the flanks, where there are a few obsolete spots. Sturnus 

 purpurascens is nearly as much spotted as our Common Starling. Two of Mr. Gould's specimens 

 of this richly coloured Starling are in full breeding-plumage ; and the third, which is very pro- 

 fusely spotted and rather duller in colour, having the beak black, not yellow, appears to me to 

 be an autumn- or winter-killed specimen. Some of the specimens of S. vulgaris from India are 

 almost unspotted, and very closely resemble the type of S. nitens ; and I think it not improbable 

 that this latter bird may be merely an old unspotted specimen of the Common Starling. 

 Dr. Henderson (Lahore to Yarkand, p. 250) states that, though not observed in Cashmere or 

 Ladak, Sturnus vulgaris was very common in Yarkand ; and according to Dr. Jerdon (B. of 

 India, ii. p. 322) it is found in India " during the cold weather only in the North-western 

 Provinces of Bengal, as low down as Monghyr, south of the Ganges, and perhaps still lower, 

 and as far as Purneah, at least on the north bank of the Ganges. It is, however, much more 

 common further to the north-west ; and I have never seen it out of the valley of the Ganges. It 

 associates in large flocks, feeding both on grain and on insects among cattle, associating with the 

 Common and Bank Mynas, and roosting on high reeds at night." It occurs in Siberia ; but 

 Dr. Radde did not observe it east of the Lower Selenga, and records of its occurrence in the 

 Bargusin steppes require confirmation ; but it is, he states, a common species in the villages on 

 the Lower Selenga, and the peasants, as elsewhere, place nest-boxes for it on high poles near 

 their houses ; he brought home specimens from the Tunka plains, in the East Sajan mountains, 

 where he met with it breeding in small colonies, their nests being in hollow branches of old 

 birch trees; and on the 8th May he heard the young birds chirping. It has been introduced 

 into New Zealand, and according to Captain Hutton (Ibis, 1870, p. 397) is becoming very 

 numerous in Auckland. 



The Starling is essentially a gregarious bird, and even during the breeding-season they 

 collect and feed in small flocks in the pastures, and in the autumn and winter vast flocks are 

 seen. It frequents the pastures, and attends and follows the cattle, frequently perching on their 

 backs, and assists to free them from the ticks which infest them ; frequently large numbers are 

 to be seen in the pastures searching amongst the dried dung for worms and beetles, during which 



