CALORNIS FEADENSIS , Ramsay.
Fead-Island Starling.
Calornis [Aphms) fiadcusis, Ramsay, Journ. Linn, Soc., Zoo], xvi. p . 12!) (1881).—Reichen. & Schalow, Journ.
fiir Orn. 1882, p. 227.
Calornis feadensis, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xviii. p. 426 (1882).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche,
iii. App. p. 550 (1882).
T he 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 o f Calornis are of m ore 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 o f Calornis, but it possesses a
peculiar dull coloration, sufficient to distinguish it at a glance.
As its name implies, it is an inhabitant o f Fead Island, one o f the Solomon group, and it was h ere discovered
by the Rev. George Brown. Only a single specimen is a t 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 ty p e :—
Adidt. Entirely sooty, with here and there a shade o f steel-green ; wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers
dusky black, externally washed with steel-green ; entire head and under surface o f body sooty black, with
scarcely any indication o f a greenish gloss. Total length 7 inches, culmen 0 '8 5 , wing 4*45, tail 2-4,
tarsus 1*05.
On the Plate is represented the figure o f an adult bird of the natural size, drawn from the specimen
above mentioned.
[R. B. S.]