164 GRAKLE. 



* * THE HEAD COVERED WITH FEATHERS. 



20— CRESTED GRAKLE. 



Gracula cristatella, Ind. Orn. i. 192. Lin. i. 165. Gm. Lin. i. 397. Shaw's Zoot. 



vii. 453. 

 Sturnus cristatella, Daud. ii. 320. 



Merula Sinensis cristata, Bris. ii. 252. Id. 8vo. i. 228. 

 Pastor, Martin, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. lv. 

 Sturnus crinibus ci nereis, &e. Klein. Av. 64. 

 Pastor griseus, Lin. Trans, xiii. p. 154. 

 Merle huppe de la Chine, Buf. iii. 367. PI. enl. 507. 

 Chinese Starling, Ediv. pi. 19. Hist. Sumat. 90. 

 Crested Grakle, Gen. Syn. ii. 264. Id. Sup. p. 90. Id. Sup. ii. 128. 



SIZE of a Blackbird ; length eight inches and an half. Bill 

 yellow; irides orange; plumage in general blackish, with a blue 

 gloss; on the forehead, just over the bill, the feathers are longer, 

 forming a kind of crest, to be erected at will ; greater quills white 

 half way from the base, the rest of the length blue black ; tail three 

 inches long, all but the middle feathers tipped with white ; legs 

 dull yellow. 



This species is very common in China. Known there, in com- 

 mon with the Minor, by the name of Lef koa, or Leuquoy ; kept in 

 cages, and the figures of them often seen in Chinese paintings ; feed 

 on rice, insects, worms, &c. In its tame state will repeat some 

 words, but by no means with the facility of the Minor, yet will 

 learn to whistle. Is plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Ganges, 

 as we have observed it among Indian drawings, under the name of 

 the Surroo of the Ganges. 



In the British Museum is a specimen which is brown ; the head 

 and neck only black, and the latter dusky ; under tail coverts white ; 

 the tail, when expanded, is a little hollowed out in the middle ; all 

 the ends of the feathers white, but the middle ones only white at 

 the tips. 



