SHINING STARLING. 
sides of the face, chin, throat and fore-neck shining bottle-green; sides of the 
chest and a broad band across the breast, extending on to the sides of the body, 
shining purple; middle of the breast and belly, thighs and under tail-coverts 
bottle-green; under wing-coverts bottle-green; nnder-sm’face of wing black with 
a slight gloss. Eyes red, bill and feet black. Total length 224 mm. ; culmen 18, 
wing 109, tad 101, tarsus 24. Figured. Collected on Mt. Sapphire, near Cairns, 
North Queensland, on the 6th of November, 1899, and is the type of sapphire. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Immature male. Feathers of the top of the head glossy pm-ple ; collar round the hind- 
neck bottle-green ; mantle shining purple; lower back, rump, upper taU-coverts 
bottle-green, strongly glossed with pui-ple; tail black, glossed with steel-blue, 
the middle pair long and narrow ; wings and secondaries brownish-black, with 
one or two metallic-blue feathers making their appearance ; tlumt and fore-neck 
white with broad shaft-streaks of black; chest and sides of the body white with 
broad black centres to each feather; middle of the chest, breast, belly and under 
tail-coverts white; imder wing-coverts and axillaries smoky-brown, margined 
with white; imder-surface of wing blackish-brown with a slight gloss. Eyes 
scarlet, bill and feet black. Figured. Collected at Cape York, North Queensland, 
on the 31st of December, 1912. 
Immature male. Feathers of the top of the head sliining pintle; a glossy metallic-green 
collar round the hind-neck; mantle glossy purple with a metallic-blue patch in 
the centre; lower back and rump bronze-green slightly shaded with pintle; 
upper tail-coverts shining bottle-green; middle tail-feathers long and very 
narrow and steel-blue in colour, outer tail-feathers black glossed on the outer web 
with shining green ; wing-coverts like the back ; primaries and secondaries black, 
glossed on the outer web with steel-blue; throat and chest smoky-wliite with 
black shaft-streaks; chest and belly creamy-wliite with glossy steel-blue centres 
to each feather; abdomen yellowish-white; under tail-coverts steel-blue fringed 
with white; under-surface of wings dull smoky-black. Eyes red, bill and feet 
black. Collected at Cape York on the 3lst of December, 1912. 
Nestling. Feathers of the whole of the imder-surface of the body creamy-white with 
black shaft-stripes ; head dull smoky-black; a broad line of feathers down the 
middle of the back and another down each side of the back, widening out on the 
lower back as well as the rump; upper tail-coverts and tail black; secondaries 
and primaries black, bordered on the outer web with rufous. Collected at Cape 
York on the 10th of February, 1913. 
Eggs. Tluee to fom- eggs form the clutch. A clutch of four eggs taken at Lockerbie, 
Cape York, North Queensland, on the 22nd of November, 1910, is of a very pale 
bluish-white gi-ound-colour, spotted and speckled (chiefly at the larger end) with 
reddish-brown, dull purple, and dull piu-plish-grey. Ovals in shape. Surface of 
shell fine, rather smooth, but not very glossy. 28-29 by 20-21 mm. 
Nest. A large stmctm’e, domed over with entrance on one side, usually at the thickest 
part, and is suspended from the limb of a tree, usually in or close to the tropical 
scrub or jungle. Constructed chiefly of the hard twisted tendrils of creeping plants, 
rather ov'al in shape, lined with portions of pahn leaves, and a quantity of hair- 
hke fibre, etc. At Lockerbie, Cape A^ork, as many as 200 of these large nests were 
coimted hanging from the limbs of one tree. Dimensions over all: Length 8 to 
10 inches, circumference 24 to 26 inches ; entrance of nest IJ to nearly 2 inches 
across. The nests are placed at a variety of heights, and often up as lugh as 50 
to 60 feet or more. 
Breeding-months. August to December. 
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