ilds in the spring at Candahar, laying seven or eight blue
eggs, and the young are fledged about the first week in May."

The eggs of this species are generally somewhat elongated ovals, a
good deal compressed towards one end, and not uncommonly more or less
pyriform. They are glossy, but in a good light have the surface a good
deal pitted. They are entirely devoid of markings, and seem to have
the ground one uniform very pale sea-greenish blue. They appear to
vary very little in colour, and to average generally a good deal
smaller than those of the Common Starling.

They vary in length from 1.02 to 1.19, and in breadth from 0.78 to
0.87; but the average of twenty eggs is 1.13 by 0.83.[A]

[Footnote A: STURNUS PORPHYRONOTUS, Sharpe. _The Central-Asian
Starling_.

This species breeds in Kashgharia, and visits India in winter. Dr.
Scully writes:--"This Starling breeds in May and June, making its nest
in the holes of trees and walls, and in gourds and pots placed near
houses by the Yarkandis for the purpose. It seems to make only a
simple lining for its hole, composed of grass and fibres. The eggs
vary in shape from a broadish oval to an elongated oval compressed at
one end; they are glossy and, in a strong light, the surface looks
pitted. The eggs are quite spotless, but the colour seems also to vary
a good deal--from a deep greenish blue to a very pale light sea-blue.
In size they vary from 1.1 to 1.22 in length, and from 0.80 to 0.86 in
breadth; but the average of nine eggs is 1.19 by 0.83."]

531. Sturnus minor, Hume. _The Small Indian Starling_.

Sturnus minor, _Hume; Hume, cat._ no. 681 bis.

Mr. Scrope Doig furnishes us with the following interesting note on
the breeding of _S. minor_ in Sindh:--

"Last year I mentioned to my friend, Captain Butler, that I had
noticed Starlings going in and out of holes in trees along the 'Narra'
in the month of March, and that I thought they must be breeding there;
he said that I must be mistaken, as _S. vulgaris_ never bred so far
south. As it happens we were both correct--he in saying _S. vulgaris_
did not breed here, and I in saying that _Starlings_ did. My Starling
turns out to be the species originally described from Sindh as
_Sturnus minor_ by Mr. Hume; and as I have now sent Mr. Hume a series
of skins and eggs, I trust he will give us a note on the subject of
our Indian Starlings. In February I shot one of these birds, and on
dissection found that they were beginn