THE SHINING STABLING 411 



"This species is one of the commonest birds in the Coburg 

 Peninsula, where it is generally seen in pairs, and may be met 

 with in every variety of situation, but more frequently among 

 the thickets and mangroves than elsewhere. It is at all times 

 exceedingly active, and its food consists entirely of insects, 

 especially Coleoptera and Neuroptera. Its usual note is a loud, 

 disagreeably harsh cackling or creaking whistle, so totally 

 different from that of any other bird, that having been once 

 heard it is readily recognised." The nests were formed of the 

 dry wiry climbing stalk of a common parasitic plant, without 

 any kind of lining; they were placed on the weakest part of the 

 extremities of the horizontal branches at not less than thirty 

 feet from the ground. (Gilbert). 



Family Eiilabetidce. 

 Genus Calornis. 

 Tail strongly graduated. Andamans through Malaysia to 

 North Australia. 



The Shining Starling. 



Calornis metallica. 



Northern Territory and North Queeusland, from the Solomons to the 

 Moluccas. 



Crown of head purplish violet; hind-neck brilliant glossy green; 

 mantle purplish- violet; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts glossy 

 oil green with shade of purple here and there; wing and tail black with 

 metallic colours; fore-neck purplish-violet; cheeks, chin, throat and rest 

 of under surface of body glossy steel-green; under wing and tail-coverts 

 black with metallic green edging; bill and feet black; iris cinnabar. 

 Total length 9.2 inches, culmen .75, wing 4.35, tail 4.1, tarsus .88. The 

 amount of purplish gloss varies in individuals. 



"During the early part of our sojourn at Cape York, this 

 bird was often seen passing rapidly over the tops of the trees in 

 small flocks of a dozen or more. In their flight they reminded 

 me of the Starlings, and, like them, made a chattering noise 

 while on the wing. One day a native took me to a breeding- 

 place in the centre of a dense scrub, where I found a gigantic 

 cotton-tree standing alone, with its branches literally hung with 

 the pensile nests of the bird; the nests, averaging two feet in 



