Genus— MET ALL OPS AR. 
Metallopsar Mathews, Austral Avian 
Record, Vol. II., pts. 2-3, p. 60, Oct. 
23rd, 1913. Type (by original designa¬ 
tion) .. .. .. .. .. Calornis purpurascens Gray. 
Galornis Gray, List Genera Birds, 2nd ed., 
p. 53, Sept. 1st, 1841. Type (by original 
designation) .. .. .. .. Turdus cantor Gmelin= 
Muscicapa panayensis Scopoli. 
Also spelt— 
CoZliornw Agassiz. Index Univers., 1848, 
Not— 
Calornia Dalman in Billberg, Enum. Ins., in Mus. Billberg, p. 77, 1820. 
I SEPARATED this gcnus with the definition: “ Differs from Lamprocorax 
Bonaparte in its weaker biU, shorter ^\ing, more slender legs and feet, and 
longer wedge-shaped tail mth two central feathers much projecting.” 
“ Glossy Starlings ” with short stout bills, long wings, long wedge-shaped 
tail, and short stout feet and long thin toes. 
The flat head recalls that of the Common Staffing, but the bill is quite 
unlike, more like that of a Shrike, while the shining lanceolate feathers on back 
of neck and upper back and throat are characteristic. Immature show 
glossiness above but not below. 
The bill is shorter than the head, the culmen arched, semi-keeled, tip 
decurved and sharp, posteriorly notched; the culmen is laterally compressed, 
little basal expansion, nasal groove hidden by frontal feathering so that only 
the nostrils as smaU, open, oval apertures are visible; no nasal bristles and 
rictals very small, scarcely discernible; under mandible almost as stout as 
the upper, depth of both mandibles at the base more than the basal width; 
interramal space feathered nearly half the length of the short bill, gonys 
not angulate, a little ascending. 
The wing has the first primary minute, second longest pointed, rest 
regularly decreasing, secondaries medium. 
The tail regularly wedge-shaped, the feathers very narrow, the two central 
feathers projecting a long way but not attenuate. 
The legs are short, the front of the tarsus showing five scutes, the back 
bilaminate. 
The toes short, the claws small, the inner and outer toes subequal, the 
middle toe and claw longer than the hind-toe and claw, which, however, 
are stouter. 
VOL. xn. 
289 
