THE COMMON STAKUXG. 



The length of this bird is eight inches and a half, two and a half of which belong to 

 the tail, and one to the beak, which is awl-shaped, angular, fiattish, and rather blunt, 

 yellow, brown towards the end, and the tip blue. The iris is nut-brown ; the claws an 

 inch long, and deep flesh-coloured. All the plumage is of a blackish hue, changing to 

 purple towards the front of the body, and to green towards the hind part, and on the 

 wing coverts ; the quill feathers and tail are black, edged with light rust-red ; the tips 

 of the head feathers, and under the neck, are reddish- white, those of the back light 

 rust-red, and those of the under part of the body whitish, which gives the bird a 

 speckled appearance. The old males are darker, having no white tips to the feathers of 

 the head, cheeks, throat or belly. The beak of the female is rather brown than yeUow ; 

 the light spots on the head, neck, and breast, are larger, and the edge of the feathers is 

 wider, which gives it a lighter and more speckled appearance. 



The starling, like all other species, has its varieties ; such arc the white, the streaked 

 or variegated, the white-headed, that whose body is white with a black head, and the 

 ash-gray. 



When wild the starling is found all over the old world. It prefers forests and little 

 thickets, surrounded by fields and meadows ; it is often seen, especially in spring, on 

 towers, steeples, and churches ; but it is never found either in high mountains or ridges. 

 In Britain it departs in October in great flights for the south, and returns in like 



* Sturnus Vulgaris. — Liiinaeus. 



