CALORNIS CRASSA, Sclater.

Slaty-grey Glossy Starling.

Calornis crassa, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 56, pl. 14.

 

Tue peculiar slaty hue of the plumage of this species of Calornis seems to separate it at once from all its
allies. We have carefully compared the type specimens with the large series of Calornis in the British
Museum, and we find that there is no species which approaches Ca/ornis crassa in the grey shade of its
plumage, which much resembles that of some of the Starlings of the genus Aplonis.

Mr. H. O. Forbes discovered the present species during his expedition to the Tenimber Islands, and
procured a large series of specimens on the island of Larat in August 1882.

The following is a description of the type specimens lent to us by Dr. Sclater :—

Adult male. General colour above slaty grey, with a greenish gloss, the feathers of the head and neck
lanceolate in form ; lesser and median wing-coverts like the back; greater coverts, bastard wing, primary-
coverts, and quills blackish, externally washed with greenish grey; tail-feathers blackish, with a slight wash
of grey on the outer margins; lores black; sides of face and entire under surface of body slaty grey, the
plumes of the throat lanceolate; under wing-coverts and axillaries like the breast; quills dusky below,
browner along the inner webs; “bill, legs, and feet black ; iris dark brown” (HZ. O. Forbes). Total
length 7°4 inches, culmen 0°8, wing 4:0, tail 2:9, tarsus 0:95.

Adult female. Different from the male. More ashy grey above, with a less pronounced greenish gloss,
the head, neck, and mantle with dusky sbaft-lines or blackish centres to the feathers; lesser wing-coverts
like the back; remainder of wing-coverts and quills purplish brown, with lighter brown edges ; tail-feathers
blackish ; lores and eyelid blackish ; sides of face and ear-coverts slaty grey glossed with green, the cheeks
streaked with whitish ; under surface of body creamy white, streaked with ashy brown down the centre of
the feathers, very narrowly on the throat and fore neck, more broadly on the breast and flanks, and
extremely so on the under tail-coverts; the sides of the body washed with slaty grey; thighs slaty grey;
abdomen whiter than the breast, and narrowly streaked with blackish ; axillaries and under wing-coverts
light ashy brown; quills dusky below, browner on the inner webs. Total length 7:3 inches, culmen 0°8,
wing 3°8, tail 2°65, tarsus 0°9.

The figures in the Plate represent a male and female of the present species, of the natural size. They are

drawn from the typical specimens now deposited in the British Museum.

[R. B. $.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a
=~
a)

f ws
E .
385 G

ks