amethyst starling

Noun

amethyst starling (plural amethyst starlings)

1. Synonym of violet-backed starling.
   • Now, in certain lights (for afterwards I saw the bird many times) the plumage does not appear copper-coloured but the prevailing appearance is purple, and in Rhodesia the egg-collecting schoolboys call the amethyst starling a “purple-back”. Apart from his marvellous purple beauty I doubt if any...1937, Madeline Alston, “Birds at Livingstone (Northern Rhodesia)”, in Wanderings of a Bird-Lover in Africa, London: H. F. & G. Witherby Ltd. […], →OCLC, part III (In Rhodesia), page 143
   • In western Arabia and northern Abyssinia females of the amethyst starling are very uniform earthy brown above, though the males are like those of the nominate race; thus C. l. arabicus Grant and Mackworth-Praed is a well-established race.1954, James P[aul] Chapin, “Cinnyricinclus leucogaster leucogaster (Boddaert)”, in The Birds of the Belgian Congo (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History; 75B), part 4, New York, N.Y....

   Synonyms:

   violet-backed starling