36o 



A VES~ORDER PASSERIFORMES. 



Tlie Starlings. 

 — Family 



Slurnidce. 



forming large tufts on the mossy branches of great trees, easily bent like 

 straw, and generally about twenty inches long. The stalks had the leaves, 

 which are small and straight, still fresh and living on them — which leads me 

 to conclude that this plant was selected by the bird to prevent rottincr and 

 mould in the building, since it keeps alive for a long time, as is so often the 

 case with epiphytical orchids. Before the cottage there is a meadow of 

 moss. This is brought to the spot and kept free from grass, stones, or 

 anything which would offend the eye. On this green turf, flowers and 

 fruit of a pretty colour are placed so as to form an elegant little garden. 

 The greater part of the decoration is collected round the entrance to 

 the nest ; and it would appear that the husband offers there his daily 

 gifts to his wife. The objects are very various, but always of a vivid 

 colour." 



The starlings are a widely distributed group, peculiar to the Old World. 

 Our common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is an exceedingly plentiful bird in 

 England, where it stays all the year, receiving an additional 

 host of migrants in the autumn and winter. Like the 

 crows, the starlings are walking, not hopping, birds like 

 sparrows and finches. They differ from the crows, however, 

 in having a streaked nestling, and they have no rictal 

 bristles. Besides the members of the genus Sturnus, which contains the 

 true starlings of Europe and Asia, and of which our own starling is the repre- 

 sentative, the family embraces many allied 

 genera, chiefly Asiatic, such as the field-starlings 

 and mynas (Shirnia and Temenuchus), and the 

 rose-coloured pastor (Pastor roseus). The latter 

 is an extraordinary bird, on account of its nidi- 

 fication. It appears in certain districts of South- 

 Eastern Europe in vast swarms, hurriedly rears 

 its young, and departs again with such rapidity 

 that its absence has hardly been noticed from ite 

 winter quarters. The starlings have the first 

 primary very short, and have on that account 

 been associated with the swallows and wagtails, 

 but with these families they have nothing to do. 

 Their eggs are always bluish or white, and the 

 nest is a rough structure, placed in a hole of a 

 tree or wall. The starlings are principally in- 

 sect-feeders, and they do an immense amount of good to the agriculturist, 

 though it must be admitted that at certain times they commit some depre- 

 dation among the fruit. 



^^'^1 ^^"^^'y *^ ^'^^ t'^e ™"st part Indian and Moluccan, but there are 

 several African and Australian forms. It contains the wattled grakles 

 {Eulabes) of the Indian region, the glossy starlings of 

 Africa {Lamprocolms), and the genus Galornis of the Indian 

 and Australian- regions. These birds are arboreal in 

 their habits, and differ from the true starlings in having 

 distinct rictal bristles, and in laying spotted eggs. In 

 Madagascar the Mulabetidw are represented by the genus Euryceros, a 

 chestnut bird with a huge bill of a blue colour. Only one species, B. 

 prevosti, is known. 



The Dicrurida. are black crow-like fiycatchersj inhabiting Africa, India, 



Fig. 95.— The Common Stab- 

 ling {Sturnus vulgaris). 



The Tree Star- 

 lings.— Family 



Eulabetidai. 



