A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Genera.

• a¹. Circumocular region fully feathered; no bare space nor fleshy wattle anywhere on the head.
  • b¹. Frontal feathers short; nostrils exposed.
    • c¹. Plumage largely white and gray; frontal feathers not soft and pile-like.
      • d¹. Bill shorter and stouter; wing, 105 mm. or less. Sturnia (p. [710])
      • d². Bill longer and more slender; wing, 115 mm. or more. Spodiopsar (p. [713])
    • c². Plumage entirely glossy greenish black; frontal plumes soft and pile-like. Lamprocorax (p. [715])
  • b². Frontal feathers long, erect or antrorse, forming a compressed fan-shaped covering to base of bill; nostrils entirely concealed. Ætheopsar (p. [717])
• a². Circumocular region naked; or else with large fleshy wattles on nape and bare spaces on sides of face.
  • b¹. Tail longer, rectrices strongly graduated; a large unfeathered space around each eye.
    • c¹. Without a crest; tail shorter than wing. Sarcops (p. [718])
    • c². With a crest of long decomposed feathers springing from the crown; tail much longer than wing. Goodfellowia (p. [720])
  • b². Tail shorter and nearly square; narrow naked spaces below and behind each eye; a large fleshy wattle on each side of nape. Eulabes (p. [720])

Genus STURNIA Lesson, 1837.

Bill rather stout, much shorter than head; culmen curved near its tip; nasal membrane covered with short feathers; frontal plumes not conspicuously developed; head without bare spaces; rectrices very slightly graduated and extending little, if at all, beyond the rather short toes.

Species.

• a¹. Primaries and secondaries without white edges; tail broadly tipped with white, gray, or salmon-buff.
  • b¹. Secondary-coverts entirely white, light gray, or salmon-buff (adult). sinensis (p. [711])
  • b². Secondary-coverts black, edged with gray; or else some of the coverts white (young) sinensis (p. [711])
• a². Outer primaries and secondaries edged with white on outer webs; tail without a light tip.
  • b¹. Throat and breast unstreaked (adult); lower throat, ear-coverts, and sides of neck vinous-chestnut (male); ear-coverts and sides of neck faintly washed with reddish brown (female) philippensis (p. [712])
  • b². Throat and breast streaked with dull olive-brown (young). philippensis (p. [712])

726. STURNIA SINENSIS (Gmelin).

GRAY-BACKED STARLING.

• Oriolus sinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, 394.
• Sturnia sinensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 68; McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1903), 1, 6; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 108.

Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (McGregor, Celestino). China, Hainan, Formosa, Siam; in winter to Cochin China, southern China, Pegu, and Malacca.