STUimiD^ — STUBNINJE : TYPICAL STABLINGS. 427 



rest rapidly graduated. Tail of 12 feathers, emarginate, little more thau half a.s Ljiig as the 

 wing. Feet short; tarsus of strictly usciue podutheca, scutellate aud lamiuiphiiitar, al)out as 

 long as middle toe without its chiw. Lateral toes of subequal lengths, tlieir daxvs fulling 

 short of base of middle claw; hind claw about as long as its digit. Pluuiage metallic and 

 iridescent, the feathers all distinctly outlined. 

 340. S. vulga'ris. (Lat. KM^f/am, vulgar, common. Fig. 277.) The Starling. Adult; Gen- 

 eral plumage of metallic lustre, iridescing dark green on most parts, more steel-ldue on the 

 under parts, and vi(.>lot or purplish-blue on the fore parts ; more or less variegated throughout 

 with pale ochraceous or whitish lips of the feathers. Wings aud tail fuscous, the exposed 

 parts of the feathers somewhat frosty or silvery, with velvety-black and pale ochrey margiu- 

 ings, the former within the latter. Dill yellowish ; feet reddish. Young and in winter : 

 Plumage more heavily variegated throughout, with larger tawny-brown spots on the upper 

 parts, and white ones below ; «'iugs aud tail strongly edged with brown ; bill dark. Length 

 about 8.50; wing .5.00; tail 2.73; bill 1.00; tarsus 1.00; middle toe aud claw 1.2.5. Europe, 

 etc., one of the longest aud best known of birds. Has straggled to Greenland iu one known 

 instance. 



2. Suborder PASSERES MESOMYODI, OE CLAMATORES : 

 Non-melodious or Songless Passeres. 



Mesomyodian scutelliplantar Passeres with ten fully develojied primaries. — Syrinx with 

 fewer than four distinct pairs of intrinsic muscles inserted at the middle of the upper bronchial 

 half-rings, representing the mesomyodian type of voice-organ, and constituting an uncompli- 

 cated and ineffective musical apparatus. Side and back of tarsus, as well as the front, covered 

 with variously arranged scutella, so that there is no sharp undivided ridge behind (as, e.g., 

 in fig. 2S0, (i). Ten fully develoi)ed primaries, the 1st of which, if not equalling or exceed- 

 ing the 2(1, is at least t as long. (See p. 240, where the Oscines are defined as acro- 

 myodian landniplantar Passeres with 9 fully-developed primaries, or 10 and the 1st short 

 or spurious.) 



Tlie essential character of this group, as distinguished from Oscines, is thus seen to be an 

 anatoudcal one, consisting in the non-development of a singing apparatus ; the vocal muscles of 

 the lower larynx (syrinx) being small and few, or else forming simply a fleshy mass, not sepa- 

 rated into parti(;ular muscles; in either case inserted in a special manner into the bronchial half- 

 rings. This character, though subject to some uncertainty of determination, coi-respouds well 

 with the principal external character assignable to the group, namely, a certain condition of the 

 tarsal envelope rarely if ever seen in the higher Passeres. If the leg of a King-bird, for example, 

 be closely examined, it will be seen covered with a row of scutella forming cylindrical plates 

 continuously enveloping the tarsus like a segmented scroll, aud showing on its postero-iuternal 

 face a deep groove where the edges of the envelope come together ; this groove widening into 

 a naked space above, partially fiUed iu behind with a row of small plates. With some minor 

 modifications, this scutelliplantar condition marks the Clamatorial birds, and is something 

 tangibly different from the typical Oscineox lam iniplantar character of the tarsus, which consists 

 iu the presence on the sides of entire corneous laminae meeting behind in a sharp ridge. And 

 even when, as in the cases of tlie oscine Eremojphila and Ampelis, there is extensive subdivision 

 of the laminfe on the sides or behind, the arrangement does not exactly answer to the above 

 description. The Clamatores represent the lower Passeres, approaching the large order 

 Picaria (see beyond) in the steps by which they recede from Oscines, yet well separated from 

 the Picarian birds. The families composing the suborder, as commonly received, are few in 

 number ; only one of them is represented iu North America, north of Mexico. 



