of the American Meadow- Stnrling in England. 177 



tivity. Indeed, though living examples of this species have been 

 occasionally brought to this country, the Meadow- Starling is 

 certainly not an ordinary cage-bird. I may mention that the 

 aviaries of the Zoological Society of London do not at present 

 contain a specimen of it. 



Being convinced, therefore, that, if the bird had really been 

 killed in England, it might be regarded as a fresh addition to 

 the already numerous list of " accidental visitors " to these shores 

 from the New World, I requested Mr. Frere kindly to ascertain 

 all the particulars he could respecting the time and place of its 

 occurrence. In reply, Mr. Frere informed me that the specimen 

 in question was killed in March 1860 by Robert Baker, servant 

 to the Rev. T. L. French. It was shot close to the railroad in a 

 rough meadow at Thrandeston in Suffolk. At this time it was 

 picking about among the knots of earth, and would not allow 

 Baker to approach within thirty yards. Mr. Frere also told me 

 that he had good grounds for supposing that this was not the 

 only instance in which this species had been observed in England, 

 his brother-in-law, Captain Jary, having on several occasions 

 watched for some time a bird of similar appearance at Walsham 

 in Norfolk in October 1854. Captain Jary, who, though not a 

 scientific ornithologist, has a very good knowledge of English 

 birds, in answer to inquiries on this subject writes as follows : — 

 " Having referred to Sturnella ludoviciana in Audubon's plates, I 

 am quite sure it is the bird that I saw at Walsham in the month 

 of October 1854. I have it in my diary. I thought, when I 

 first saw it, that it might be a Golden Oriole. The first time I 

 observed it was in front of the house, near a plantation. I had 

 no gun with me, or could have shot it. I watched it for some 

 time on the soft ground, but heard no note. I saw it again next 

 day in a field among some Larks ; it flew away with a quick and 

 hurried flight. Two days afterwards I saw it a third time ; but 

 I could not get a shot at it, as it flew away when I was about 

 seventy yards ofi"." After a subsequent examination of Mr. Frcre's 

 specimen. Captain Jary repeated his conviction of the bird ob- 

 served by him having been of the same species. 



The American Meadow-Starling is a well-known bird in the 

 United States of America and Canada, where it commonly goes 



