AVES. 353 
plumage is shiny black, and it has a very peculiar and elegant crest 
rising from the top of the head and spreading somewhat like an umbrella. 
The other species of this group are the bald-headed crows, which have 
the part indicated by the name entirely naked. Their habits appear to be 
much like those of the common American or European species. 
Sub-fam. 6. Pyrrhocoracine, or Choughs. Bill long, slender, and 
curved; wings lengthened, pointed; tail long; tarsi and feet rather short 
and strong. Size moderate ; color black. 
This sub-family contains four species only, of which the chough of 
Europe (Pyrrhocorax alpinus) is found in the mountains of that continent, 
where in the summer it lives in the regions approaching the greatest 
altitude, but in the winter descends to the lower countries. Its food con- 
sists of insects, worms, and seeds. It is said to breed in the remote 
recesses of the mountains, and to construct its nest in the fissure of a rock. 
The red-legged chough (Coracia gracula) is another European species 
very similar to the last. 
There is no representative of these birds yet discovered in America; the 
two other birds of this sub-family are natives of Africa and Australia. 
Fam. 2. Sturnip#, or Straruines. Bill more or less long, compressed, 
often with an angle near the base of both mandibles; wings generally long 
‘and pointed ; tail generally long ; tarsi and feet more or less robust ; claws 
frequently well developed. Size small. 
An extensive family, containing all the birds known as grakles, starlings, 
hanging birds, troopials, and many others. Very many of the species are 
exceedingly gregarious and appear in vast flocks, of which those of North 
America, known as blackbirds, are familiar illustrations. 
Sub-fam. 1. Ptilonorhynchine, or Glossy Starlings. Bill moderate, 
strong, compressed; wings moderate, pointed; tail various, frequently 
long; tarsi strong, with scales ; toes rather long and robust. Size moderate. 
The splendid starlings or shining thrushes, as they were formerly called, 
of Africa are arranged here. ‘Twenty-five species are known, nearly all of 
which are remarkable for the brilliant metallic tints of their plumage, 
which is frequently dark. Pttlonorhynchus nitens and P. chrysotis are 
common in collections brought from Liberia and Sierra Leone. These 
birds inhabit the entire continent of Africa, and partake of the general 
characters of the American blackbirds, by which name they are known to 
the colonists. 
Several similar Australian and Indian genera are classed here. 
Sub-fam. 2. Graculine, or Grakles. Bill long, strong, broad at base, 
compressed to the tip; wings long; tail short, sometimes moderate ; tarsi 
rather short, robust; toes rather long, strongly scaled. Size small. 
This sub-family does not comprise the birds known in the United States 
as grakles, but is restricted to some five or six species of Asia and its 
islands. 
The mino bird (Gracula religiosa) is best known. It is a native of 
India, and possesses considerable powers of song. It is a heavy-formed 
bird, of black plumage, with very singular appendages on the sides of its 
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