Part 285

"A winter migrant occasionally met with in small flocks. Three males from Tawi Tawi average: Length, 180; wing, 100; tail, 52; culmen, 17.5; tarsus, 23; middle toe with claw, 25. Two females, length, 178; wing, 103; tail, 51; culmen, 17; tarsus, 23; middle toe with claw, 27. Iris black; legs and feet dark olive; upper mandible black, lower black at tip, gray at base." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus SPODIOPSAR Sharpe, 1889.

Similar to Sturnia, but bill longer and more slender; feathers of occiput and nape lanceolate, forming a short broad crest.

Species.

a1. Wing shorter; outer webs of primary-coverts white; bases of primaries white. ... sericeus (p. 713) a2. Wing longer; outer webs of primary-coverts seal-brown; bases of primaries brown ... cineraceus (p. 714)

728. SPODIOPSAR SERICEUS (Gmelin).

SILKY STARLING.

Sturnus sericeus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, 805. Heterornis sericea Cassin, Ornith. Perry Japan Exped., Washington (1856), 2, 238, pl. 5. Poliopsar sericeus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 44 (generic name emended to Spodiopsar, addenda, p. 665). Spodiopsar sericeus McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 24; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108.

Calayan (McGregor). Central and southern China.

"Adult.--General color above light ashy gray, a little darker on the hind neck, where the feathers are long and lanceolate; scapulars like the back, externally white, with a subterminal shade of black; rump and upper tail-coverts a little lighter gray, with ashy whitish margins; lesser wing-coverts blackish, edged with slaty gray; median coverts glossy purplish black; greater coverts black, externally glossy green, with purple reflections, velvety black interiorly; alula-feathers black, externally white; primary-coverts white, black near the center of the tips of the feathers; quills black, the primaries externally glossy purple, and white at the extreme base; the secondaries externally glossy green, like the greater coverts, bluish or purple toward the ends; center tail-feathers glossy green, the remainder black, externally bluish green or purple; crown of head and nape, sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, sides of neck, and fore neck white, followed by an ashy gray breast; abdomen white; sides of body and flanks pale ashy gray tinged with brown; thighs white, ashy gray posteriorly; under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts and axillars white; quills below dusky, ashy brown along the inner edge, the base of the quills white. 'Bill bright red, with the tips white; feet orange; iris black, with a light circle.' (David.) Length, 198; culmen, 25; wing, 120; tail, 61; tarsus, 29.

"All the males [in the British Museum], so marked, are of a delicate gray, and vary very slightly in the direction of a whiter or a browner head. A female collected by Mr. Reeves at Ningpo is altogether browner, rather more ashy on the rump; the gloss on the wings and tail less distinct; primary-coverts blackish brown near the base, white at the ends, with a central black streak; head whitish, ashy gray on sides of crown and hind neck; sides of face whitish, ashy on the cheeks; under surface of body as in the male, but light brown instead of gray. This specimen is apparently immature." (Sharpe.)

A solitary female of the silky starling was obtained on Calayan Island in November, 1903. Iris dirty white; legs bright yellow; nails yellowish brown; basal one-half of bill reddish yellow; terminal half dusky. Length, 216; wing, 118; tail, 71; culmen from base, 24; bill from nostril, 16; tarsus, 29; middle toe with claw, 30.

729. SPODIOPSAR CINERACEUS (Temminck).

ASHY STARLING.

Sturnus cineraceus Temminck, Pl. Col. (1827), 2, pl. 556. Poliopsar cineraceus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 41 and addenda, 665. Spodiopsar cineraceus Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Birds (1889), 1, 524; Mearns, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 353.

Luzon (Mearns). Eastern Siberia, Japan, China, Formosa, Upper Burma.

"Coloration.--Forehead, crown, nape, and sides of neck black, the forehead streaked with white; lores, ear-coverts, and round the eye white, streaked with black; chin and throat dark ashy brown with paler and indistinct shaft-streaks; breast ashy, slightly paler than throat; sides of the body and thighs rufous ashy; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts drab-brown with a broad white bar across the rump; tail drab-brown with broad white tips to all the inner webs of the feathers except the middle pair; wing-coverts and tertials bronzy brown; remainder of wing blackish, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries more broadly, margined with white on the outer webs; under wing-coverts and axillars white, a few feathers of the former partially margined with brown.

"The youngest bird I have seen has the whole plumage russet-brown, the inner webs of the tail-feathers tipped with white, the quills of the wing edged with paler brown; the ear-coverts whitish; the chin nearly pure white.

"Between this young bird and the adult above described there is every possible gradation of plumage. The nestling is probably streaked below.

"'Iris brown surrounded by white; bill orange; the tip horny; the base of the lower mandible and the angle of the mantle brownish green; legs yellow.' (David and Oustalet.) Length, about 229; tail, 71; wing, 132; tarsus, 32; bill from gape, 33." (Oates.)

The gray starling is known as a member of the Philippine ornis from a single specimen collected in northern Luzon by Doctor Mearns. This specimen has the chin, throat, and crest mottled with white and there is much white on the forehead and sides of head.

Genus LAMPROCORAX Bonaparte, 1853.

Bill stout, strongly compressed except toward base; culmen strongly curved throughout; gonys straight; feathers on nasal membrane short and pile-like; feathers of head, face, and throat lanceolate; tail moderate in length; rectrices narrow and graduated, their tips rounded; plumage entirely glossy black.

Species.

a1. Larger; wing, 105 mm.; tail, 75. ... panayensis (p. 715) a2. Smaller; wing, 95 mm.; tail, 59. ... todayensis (p. 716)

730. LAMPROCORAX PANAYENSIS (Scopoli).

PHILIPPINE GLOSSY STARLING.

Muscicapa panayensis Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1783), 2, 96. Calornis panayensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 147; Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 244, pl. 6, fig. 1 (egg); Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 241 (habits). Lamprocorax panayensis Oberholser, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. (1899), 51, 216. Lamprococorax panayensis McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 109 (error).