THE STARLINGS 



Many of the Starlings are gifted not only with 

 considerable musical power, but with ready aptitude 

 for imitating various sounds, hence they are general 

 favourites as cag^e-birds. The Starlingrs form a 

 somewhat heterogeneous group of birds, characterized 

 by having nine primaries in the wing, a swollen 

 nostril, no nasal bristles, and a non-scutellated hind 

 tarsus. The young in first plumage differ consider- 

 ably in colour from their parents. They are an Old 

 World group of wide distribution, yet absent from 

 Australia. Of the more typical Starlings — of which 

 our British species is a familiar example — about ten 

 species are recognized by ornithologists. These 

 are distributed over the Palaearctic region, and the 

 northern parts of the Oriental region so called. 

 The British Starling we will now proceed to consider 

 in detail. 



269 



