(978) Sturnus vulgaris dresseri,
Dresser's Stabling.
Sturnus purpurascens dresseri Butarlin, Orn. Jahrb., 1904, pp. 208-9 (Askabad).
Vernacular names. None recorded.
Description. Gloss. Head, neck and whole lower parts purple ; upper parts green, more blue on the lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts and often with a certain amount of purple sheen also ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries purple.
Colours of soft parts as in S. v. poltaratzshii.
Measurements. Wing 122 to 131 mm.
Distribution. Askabad and Merv to Ferghana and, according to Buturlin, as far East as the Kara-tau. The only specimen from India in the British Museum collection is one from Sind; the others so named appear to me to be all nobilior.
Nidification. Nothing recorded.
Habits do not differ from those of other Starlings. In Winter, when the extra-limital Starlings visit India, two or more races may be found in the same flock. Thus Ticehurst obtained specimens of nobilior and poltaratzskii with one shot and also found Dresser's Starling associating with these two. This writer also points out that the plum-red shoulders of nobilior are a noticeable character in life.
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