SXUBNIBM—STUBNIN^: TYPICAL STABLINGS. 427 



rest rapidly graduated. Tail of 12 feathers, emarginate, little more thaia half as loLg as the 

 wing. Feet short ; tarsus of strictly oscine podotheca, scutellate and laminiplantar, about as 

 long as middle toe without its claw. Lateral toes of subequal lengths, their claws falling 

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

 iridescent, the feathers all distinctly outlined. 

 340. S. vulga'ris. (Lat. DM^growis, vulgar, common. Fig. 377.) The Starling. Adult: Gen- 

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

 under parts, and violet or purplish-blue on the fore parts ; more or less variegated throughout 

 with pale ochraceous or whitish tips of the feathers. Wiugs and tail fuscous, the exposed 

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

 ings, the former within the latter. Bill 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 ; wings and tail strongly edged with brown ; bill dark. Length 

 about 8.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.75; billl.OO; tarsus 1.00; middle toe and claw 1.25. Europe, 

 etc., one of the longest and best known of birds. Has straggled to Greenland in one known 

 instance. 



2. SuBORDEK PASSERES MESOMYODI, OR CLAMATORES : 

 Non-melodious or Songless Passeres. 



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

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

 half-rings, repi'esenting the mesomyodian type of voice-organ, and constituting an uncompli- 

 cated and ineffective musical apparatus. Side and back of tarsus, as vi'ell as the front, covered 

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

 in fig. 280, a). Ten fully developed primaries, the 1st of which, if not equalling or exceed- 

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

 inyodian laminiplantar Passeres with 9 fuUy- developed primaries, or 10 and the 1st short 

 <ir spurious.) 



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

 anatomical 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 particular muscles; in either case inserted in a special manner into the bronchial half- 

 rings. This character, though subject to some uncertainty of determination, corresponds ji^ell 

 with the pi-incipal 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, and showing on its postero-internal 

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

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

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

 tangibly difierent Irom the typical Osdne or laminiplantar character of the tarsus, which consists 

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

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

 of the laminse 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 

 Picariee (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 in North America, north of Mexico. 



