STURNID^. 



227 



THE STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus. 



The Starling or Stare, now generally distributed throughout the 

 United Kingdom, has materially increased during the last forty 

 years both as regards numbers and range, in Wales, the west and 

 north of England, and Ireland. In Scotland also, it is now common 

 in many districts in which it was either rare or unknown within the 

 memory of persons hardly past middle-age ; in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys, however, it has been resident for at least a century, and 

 for little less in the Outer Hebrides {Cf. Harvie-Brown, Ann. Scott. 

 Nat. Hist. 1895, pp. 2-22). Large flocks arrive on our east coasts 

 in autumn, at which season there is also a marked migration west- 

 ward, and localities in the interior of this country which have been 

 frequented during the summer are then almost deserted, while great 

 numbers seek winter quarters in the south and west of Ireland. 



In the Faeroes, where this species is common and resident, the 



