606. STURNUS GUTTATUS. 



had one a few years ago, which I have heard pronounce most 

 distinctly the following sentences. When I entered the shop, 

 he said to me, ' Come in, Sir, and take a seat — I see by your 

 face that you are fond of the lasses — George, send for a coach 

 and six for pretty Charlie— Be clever, George, I want it im- 

 mediately ;" and many other sentences to the same purport. 

 He was taught by a shoemaker in Stewarton, Aryshire." 



Young. — The young in their first plumage differ in colour 

 so much from the old birds that several authors have described 

 them as forming a distinct species. On this subject I have 

 some remarks to offer, which are the more necessary that the 

 question is not yet settled with some individuals, who have not 

 compared specimens of the objects which they confound. In 

 the first place, however, it is necessary to describe the young 

 Starling. Its form is of course in all resj^ects similar to that 

 of the old bird, only the bill and claws are somewhat shorter. 

 The former is blackish-brown with paler edges, the upper man- 

 dible having a slight notch close to the tip, which becomes 

 obsolete in the adult. The irides are brown ; the feet reddish- 

 brown ; the claws dusky. The plumage is not at all loose, 

 although not of so compact a texture as in the old bird, and 

 quite lustreless ; the feathers less narrow and more rounded ; 

 the wings and tail as described above. The general colour is 

 a dull rather light greyish-brown, the throat much paler, ap- 

 proaching to greyish- white. The quills and tail-feathers are of 

 the same tint, and edged with pale reddish-brown. This is 

 the Starling in its first plumage. I have before me a specimen 

 obtained in August, in which the beautiful glossy dark nar- 

 rower white-tipped feathers appear in patches among the dull 

 brown ones, producing a curious contrast, and proving beyond 

 a doubt that the " Brown Starling or Solitary Thrush'' of 

 authors is actually a young " Spotted Starling."" 



M. Temminck had long ago informed us that the young 

 starlings " previous to the autumnal moult, are of a brownish- 

 grey without spots, on all parts of the body ; the wings and 

 tail have the feathers bordered with reddish-grey ; the throat 

 is white, and there is a little of a whitish tint on the belly.'' 



