56o 



PASSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



Most of the brighter species exhibit purple, coppery, bhie and 

 green reflexions, our famihar Starling (Sturmis vulgaris) being 



iridescent black, 

 with buff marks 

 above, and, after the 

 autumn moult, white 

 spots below. The 

 female is duller, but 

 in this Family the 

 sexes usually differ 

 little. (S'. unicolor is 

 unspotted. Spodio- 

 jjsar iurmanieus has 

 grey upper and 

 pinkish under parts, 

 with brownish 

 wings and tail, 

 white head, and 

 white -tipped rec- 

 trices ; Sturnopastor 

 contra is blackish- 

 brown and white 

 above, and greyish 

 beneath, with 



green-black head 

 and throat and 

 white cheeks ; Pastor 

 roseus, which wanders to Britain, is glossy black, with pink back 

 and abdomen ; GracuHpica melanopfera is almost pure white, 

 with black or bronzy remiges and rectrices. Eulabes religiosa, 

 the Myna, — a name also popularly applied to Acridotheres (sacred 

 to the god Earn Deo) and several other Indian forms, — is black, 

 with purple and green reflexions, and a white patch on the wing- 

 quills ; Ginnamop)terus tenuirostris is more highly coloured, with 

 mainly chestnut primaries ; Mdanopyrrlius 07'ientalis adds to its 

 metallic black hue an orange head, neck, rump, and breast ; 

 Lamprotonds and the shorter-tailed Lamprocolius exhibit lovely 

 greens, purples, and peacock -blues, relieved by golden-bronze ; 

 Coccycolius is golden-green with purple cheeks and abdomen. 

 Pholidauges leucogaster is rich purplish-violet with white belly, 



Fig. 132. — Starling. Siurnus vulgaris. 

 (From JEnglish Illustrated Magazine.) 



