STARLING 



58, 



The range of the oriole extends from Europe as far east as the Altai, 

 the species being replaced in Turkestan and Afghanistan by the allied 

 Indian oriole, O. kimdu, which has more black in the neighbourhood 

 of the eye. In general habits the oriole is very thrush-like. The nest, 

 which is made of strips of bark, lined with grass, is suspended by bark- 

 strips from the forked branch of a tree — preferably an oak ; and the 

 four or five eggs are whitish, or white suffused with pink, heavily 

 spotted with chocolate-brown or black. 



Specimens of certain members of the American family of hang- 

 nests (Icterid?e, often known as American orioles), such as the red- 

 winged starling {Agelceus phcejiiceus), the rusty grackle {Scolecophagiis 

 fcrriigimms), and the meadow-starling {^Sturnella magna), have been 

 killed in the British Islands, but by an eminent authority all such 

 instances are regarded as " escapes." 



Starling- 

 (Sturnus vulg-aris). 



With the starling, which apparently takes its name 

 from the "star-spangled" plumage of the adult 

 cock, we reach a family (Sturnidae) of Old World 



birds whose members differ from the foregoing groups by their habit 



of walking, in place of hopping, 



when on the ground. In the more 



typical members, at any rate, of this 



family (for there is some difference 



of opinion as to the limitations of 



the group) the wing has ten primary 



quills, of which the first is very 



small, and the tail twelve feathers ; 



the nostrils are clear of the line of 



the forehead ; bristles are altogether 



lacking at the gape ; and in most 



cases the plumage of the nestlings 



is streaked. There is only one moult 



— in autumn. Sharply pointed 



wings and swollen nostrils are also 



very characteristic of the group, 



, , , , ^ . 1 1 r MOUNTED IN THE ROWLAND WARD STUDIOS 



all the more typical members ot 



^ STAKI.INC;. 



which lay uniformly coloured pale 



blue or bluish-white eggs in holes in trees or rocks or in buildings. 



The starling is the typical representative of a comparatively small 



genus. In spring the cock has the beak yellow and the plumage 



black, brightly glossed on the head with green, and on the back with 



