Thk vStarling 139 



and always remain nervous in a cage ; the species of the genus Ictcyus, however, 

 are marvellously tame birds. In one respect, in addition to their general outline, 

 the true Starlings resemble the so-called "Meadow-Starlings"; they are very 

 gregarious. 



In their nidification the Stuiiiidcc as a rule differ both from the Icki tdcc and 

 Coivida; building their nests of all kinds of rubbish, in holes or crevices of 

 trees, banks, rocks, walls, or buildings : their eggs are uniform in colouring and 

 usually greenish-blue ; but both in the Stuniidcc and Icicrida there are exceptions 

 to this broad distinction. 



No birds are so easy to capture as Starlings, nets and traps awaken no suspicion 

 of danger in their unreflecting brains ; they see food, and rush in helter-skelter 

 to secure it ; so that a small trap will sometimes secure from three to five at 

 one fall. 



Fawily—STURNW.-E. 



The Starling. 



Sfitniiis vulgaris, LiNN. 



GENERALLY distributed over the greater part of Europe, breeding as far 

 to the south as Northern Ital}'. The European birds which migrate, pass 

 the winter in the south of France, Portugal, Spain, Ital}', Greece, Northern 

 Africa and Palestine. The Asiatic birds breed in Southern Siberia, Persia, 

 Turkestan, and eastward to the Amur : they winter in India, passing through 

 Mongolia on migration. 



In Great Britain the Starling is partially resident and generall}- distributed 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland ; in the latter island it used to be rather 

 local in the breeding-season, but it now nests in every county ; in Cornwall and 



