Starlings.

IN the Starlings (Sturnida), the bill exhibits a nearer approach to a conic form, some of the genera, indeed,

have the bill per

fectly conic, such as

the Hangnests (Ic

terina) and Maize Birds (Aglaina), which conduct us to the next or typical family of the conirostral birds. The bills of the common

Starling and of Icterus hæmorrhous, represented in the cut, will serve to illustrate the general form, although there are considerable modifications of form and structure exhibited in different groups of this family.

The family of Sturnide, Mr. Vigors observes, embraces a considerable number of groups, approaching each other in their gregarious and migratory habits. They are found in every part of the globe, united in large flocks, carrying destruction among the cultivated fields, and following herds of cattle for the sake of the insects or grains which they may pick up from their bodies, or in their neighbourhood. In addition to the American genus Icterus, and the contiguous

genera Cassicus and Zanthornis of M. Brisson, together with Pendulinus, Vieill., and several corresponding groups, we may observe the genus Amblyramphus, Leach, united to the family, as also the Buphaga, Linn., and Pastor and Lamprotornis. The whole of the family, united by their manners and straight and conical form of the beak, the ridge of which passes back to some extent over the forehead, may be observed, by those who cast even a casual glance over the three adjoining groups, to hold an intermediate rank between the weaker conformation of the Fringillide and the more powerful structure of the Corvida.*

An interesting group in this family is formed by the Grackles (Lamprotornina). They are birds of handsome plumage, being generally black, glossed with the most beautiful metallic lustres of green and blue. The uncommon brilliancy of the plumage of some of the species induced many naturalists to associate them with the Paradise Birds. The whole group appears to be confined to the tropics of Asia and Africa. They are gregarious, appearing in numerous flocks, and destroy the countless hosts of locusts and other large species of insects that are destructive to the produce of the fields in those warm

regions. The chief peculiarities. of the Grackles consist in a strong thrush-like bill, generally notched, but never angulated at the base, as in the

On the Natural Affinities that connect the Orders and Families of Birds; Vigors.

Icterina; the feet are large, the middle front toe being shorter than the tarsus, and united to the outer at the base; the first quill in the wing is merely rudimental, and the second and third the longest.

Indigenous to Southern America is another interesting group, forming the sub-family Icterinæ, or Hangnests. Like the rest of the tribe, they are gregarious and wary. They are never, however, according to Mr. Swainson, seen upon the ground, but feed upon fruits and coleopterous insects, which they find upon the trees. They are conspicuous for the ingenuity they display in the construction of their nests, which are of a long purse-like form, of laborious and elegant structure, and suspended from the slender branches of lofty trees. The bill in some of the species is large, very thick at the base, remarkably pointed at the tip, and completely conic; the upper mandible is expanded at its base into a broad oval plate, which advances far on the front, and divides the frontal feathers. The commissure is straight, but angulated at the base.

The most remarkable feature in the economy of these birds is the mode in which they construct their nests. Some of the birds being of a large size, nearly as big again as a thrush, require a large nest, and it is frequently found measuring between four and five feet in depth. It is a beautiful and novel sight to the European, says Mr. Swainson, to see hundreds of these pensile fabrics suspended from the extremity of the branches of a single tree, generally the most lofty, and accompanied by the birds themselves, either thickly crowded on the branches, or going and re