. The birds of Europe . tted with reddish brown. Although not entirely devoidof song, it is by no means remarkable in its wild state for its musical powers : its call note is a plaintivemonotonous whistle. In captivity it is much valued, not only for its beauty, but for its powers of imitation,being capable of learning and repeating tunes and even words. The sexes offer, as the Plate will show, a considerable difference in their colouring. The male has the top of the head, the circle round the eye, the throat, wings, and tail of a deep glossyblack; the back of the neck and mantle ash-colour; t
. The birds of Europe . tted with reddish brown. Although not entirely devoidof song, it is by no means remarkable in its wild state for its musical powers : its call note is a plaintivemonotonous whistle. In captivity it is much valued, not only for its beauty, but for its powers of imitation,being capable of learning and repeating tunes and even words. The sexes offer, as the Plate will show, a considerable difference in their colouring. The male has the top of the head, the circle round the eye, the throat, wings, and tail of a deep glossyblack; the back of the neck and mantle ash-colour; the cheeks, neck, chest, and flanks fine red ; rump andabdomen pure white; a band of greyish white crosses the wing; the beak and irides black ; tarsi blackishbrown. In the female, the red of the chest, neck, and flanks is exchanged for dusky greyish brown; the white ofthe rump is less conspicuous, and the markings of the head are not so pure and decided. The Plate represents an adult male and female of the natural Sturnu s vul gans ; ,/Z//v a / JJmvm-frorA/jj!j%--::Ad m. oUrwhi Genus STURNUS, Linn. Gen. Char. Bill straight, depressed, rather obtuse, and slightly subulated. Nostrils basal,lateral, and partly closed by a prominent rim. Wings long, the first feather very short,the second and third the longest and equal. Feet with three toes before and one behind ;the middle toe united to the outer one as far as the first joint. STARLING. Sturnus vulgaris, vulgaire. The species formerly arranged under the old Linnean genus Sturnus have been separated into several distinctgenera, bearing their appropriate characters, and which now form an interesting family, the members ofwhich are very generally dispersed over the globe. The value of such separations is obvious to the Ornitho-logist, as by a knowledge of the characters of each genus he is at once enabled to ascertain its true situation. The number of species contained in the genus Sturnus, as now
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectpictorialworks
