34 
GtilDE TO fHE 
as well as the Chough, Pyrrhocorax gracutus, still 
resident in the British Islands, while the Nutcracker, 
Nucifraga caryocatactes, a bird varying much locally, 
is only a rare visitor to this country. In tropical 
countries Corvidae of very gaudy plumage are found, 
such as the American blue Crows, the Indian long- 
tailed Urocissa, Cissa, and others. The latter are 
beautifully green in life, but in collections this green 
is gradually altered to a somewhat dull blue, but 
if kept in the dark this process can be prevented 
for a long time. 
The Birds of Paradise, Paradiseidae, are generally 
regarded as very close allies of the Corvidae, but they 
have been already mentioned in Case II. (see p. 25). 
Not far from the Corvidae stand also the Starlings, 
Sturnidae, with a single British representative, 
Sturnus vulgaris, but a good many subspecies of the 
latter and species in foreign countries, some, as the 
African Glossy Starlings {Cosmopsarus, Lamprocolius, 
Lamprotornis), being of brilliant metallic colours. 
The Pastor roseus is only an irregular visitor to 
Great Britain. 
In America the Starlings are not represented at all, 
but their place in nature is evidently taken by the 
“ Hang-nests,” Icteridae, which build enormous long 
tubes in which their eggs are deposited. 
This case contains also the Shrikes, a family very 
rich in species in the Old World, but very poorly 
represented in America ; there are only five species 
