274 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



STURNIDyE.— STARLINGS. 



The gregarious habits of the Fringillince, which, like the Rasorial order, derive 

 their chief sustenance from seeds scattered on the ground, prepare us for entering 

 upon this family, distinguished by the same economy, but composed of larger 

 and more perfectly constructed birds. The Starlings are readily known by the 

 length and conic form of their bills, a structure admirably adapted to their modes 

 of life. Like the Crows, they frequent meadows, plains, and newly-ploughed 

 land, picking insects from beneath the surface ; while, to preserve their affinity 

 with the Finches, they feed also upon hard seeds : the former habit requires 

 a lengthened bill, the latter a conic one ; and thus, while Nature applies the 

 means to the end, she preserves a beautiful affinity between these three con- 

 terminous families. 



The forms among the Stumidce, although comparatively few, are yet, in general, 

 so definitely graduated, that it is truly surprising the primary divisions should 

 ever have been mistaken. The following table will explain the circular succes- 

 sion of the whole family.* 



Typical group. 



Sub-typical group. 4 



Aberrant group. 



Bill more or less conic, both mandibles thickened 

 and suddenly angulated at their base ; the tip 

 obtuse and obsoletely notched. 



Bill more compressed and thrush-like, the base 

 not angulated ; the tip of the upper mandible 

 distinctly notched. 



Bill more or less conic ; the tip acute and entire. 



Sub-families. 



StuRNINjE. 



Lamprotorninje. 



ScaphidurinjE. 

 icter1nje. 



AgELAINjE. 



The geographic distribution of these divisions is unusually regular. The two 

 typical sub-families are restricted to the Old World ; while the aberrant forms 

 are almost entirely confined to the New. Our present remarks will chiefly regard 

 the latter. — The birds which we now arrange under the sub-family of 



* The SturnidtE of Mr. Vigors are divided also into sub-families, of which the following are made the typical 

 genera: — 1. Icterus; 2. Stumus ; 3. Lamprotorrtis ; 4. Pastor; 5. Buphuga. — Zool. Journ., ii., p. 398. No birds 

 seem to have perplexed ornithologists more than the American Starlings. Since the time of Daudin (1800), our know- 

 ledge of them has been progressively retrograding ; and the institution of the genus Psarocolius, which has been made 

 to comprehend them all, renders the confusion complete. — Sw. 



