CALORNIS FEADENSIS, Ramsay.

Fead-Island Starling.

Calornis (Aplonis) feadensis, Ramsay, Journ. Linn, Soc., Zool. xvi. p. 129 (1881).—Reichen. & Schalow, Journ.
fur Orn. 1882, p. 227.
Calornis feadensis, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genoy. xviii. p. 426 (1882).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche,

ii. App. p. 550 (1882).

 

Tur genera Aplonis and Calornis may ultimately be found to be undistinguishable, and certainly the present
bird seems to be a connecting link between the two genera. The species of Calornis are of more brilliant
coloration, and the bill is not so stout nor so arched as in Aplonis ; and in the former respect C. feadensis
agrees with the Polynesian Starlings, while in the shape of the bill it is more like Calornis, in which genus
we have retained it. Its nearest allies are C. cantoroides and that group of Cadornis, but it possesses a
peculiar dull coloration, sufficient to distinguish it at a glance.

As its name implies, it is an inhabitant of Fead Island, one of the Solomon group, and it was here discovered
by the Rev. George Brown. Only a single specimen is at present known, and for the loan of this typical
example we are indebted to our kind friend Mr. E. P. Ramsay, who described the species.

The following description is taken from the type :—

Adult. Entirely sooty, with here and there a shade of steel-green ; wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers
dusky black, externally washed with steel-ereen ; entire head and under surface of body sooty black, with
scarcely any indication of a greenish gloss. Total length 7 inches, culmen 0°85, wing 4°45, tail 2°4,
tarsus 1:05.

On the Plate is represented the figure of an adult bird of the natural size, drawn from the specimen

above mentioned.

[R. B. S.]

 

 

 

 

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