THE STARLING. 427 



Family STURNID^E. Starlings. 

 i68. Sturnus vulgaris Linn/ktis. 



STARLING. 



Sfio-ims ruU/arif! LiNNyi<;us, Systcma Natura', ed. 10, I, 1758, 107. 



(B — C — , R 27!), C 363, U [49.3].) 



Geographical range: Europe and northern Asia ; accidental in Greenland. Intro- 

 duced in the United States. 



The Starling, a common Enropean species, is admitted to onr fanna from 

 the fact that a specimen has been taken in Greenland, where it can only l)e con- 

 sidered a straggler. 



Mr. Henry Seebohm says: "The Starling breeds throughout Europe north 

 of latitude 44°, and is a resident in the Azores. In Scandinavia, it is found as 

 far north as latitude 69°, in Sweden and Finland up to latitude 6.5°, and in the 

 Urals only up to latitude 57°, which api)ears to be its northern limit in Asia. 

 The P^uropean lairds that are migratory winter in the south of France, the Span- 

 ish Peninsula, Italy, Grreece, North Africa, and Palestine. In Asia it breetls in 

 South Siberia, Persia, and Turkistan, ranging as far east as the sources of the 

 Amoor, passing through Mongolia, on migration, and wintering in India. 



"Tlie Starling is almost as closely associated with man as the Sparrow; 

 but, unlike that bird, it seems to have a peculiar way of accommodating itself 

 to its surroundings with the greatest ease. Thus we see it ahnost everywhere 

 and in every variety of scenery. It will share the eaves and the dovecot with 

 the Sparrows and Pigeons. It will nestle in the hollow trees, far away from 

 houses, or make its home just as easily in the sides of the stupendous ocean 

 cliffs in company with the noisy crowd of sea birds, or on the limestone rocks 

 farther inland. After the breeding season the Starling becomes even more 

 widely distributed, and from August until the following spring liaunts fields and 

 marshes, conmions, gardens, and the low-lying shores, as its food supply may be 

 most abundant. The Starling is a gregarious bird at all seasons of the year; 

 but this liabit is most marked after the nesting season, foi- in tlio spring the 

 scarcity of suitable breeding places usually disperses them. 



"Early in the year, sometimes as soon as the middle of January, the Star- 

 ling returns almost daily to its old nesting^place, and in a week or so tlie male 

 Ijegins liis unpretentious song. He usually sings when perclied on a chinniey 

 or on the eaves near his nesting hole, or on tlie tree tops near nt liand, nii<l his 

 song is warbled forth as he; ruffles the feathei-s of his head and throat and shakes 

 and droops his wings, as thougli full of nervous excitement. Although many of 

 tlie Starling's notes are harsh, still some of them are very full and pleasing, •uid 

 heard as thev are, at a season when every sign of returning spring is eagerly 

 looked for :iii<l welcomed, are certainly one oi' tlic most clu'crful sounds that 

 greet the eiir. Each note is attcrc<l in seeming caprice; the liarsli ones are 



