STURNUS VULGARIS. 431 



Family II— Sturnid^e. (Vigors.) 



In addition to the true starlings — the genus Sturnus of 

 Linnaeus — there are several groups of birds, some confined to 

 Europe, some to America, and other parts of the globe, allied in 

 habits, and preserving the chain of affinities in a broad sense to 

 this family (one of the typical groups of the Gonirostral tribe), 

 but we have only two species of one of these sub-families — the 

 Sturnina—ixi Britain — I may say in Europe, for the sub-family 

 Lamprotornina is restricted to the hot climates of Asia and 

 Africa ; while the Agelaiwi,, Irterina, and Scaphadurina belong 

 to America, and are arranged by the earlier systematists in the 

 genus Oriolus. Therefore I need not perplex my readers with 

 the affinities and grouping of affinities in the broken chain 

 of our winged friends as we find it in Britain. 



The Common or Spotted Starling. 



Sturnus Vulgaris. (Linn). 



" I'll have a starling— shall be taught to speak 

 Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him 

 To keep his anger still in motion." — First part of Henry IV. 



This bird is broadcast like the east wind in the British Isles, 

 from the Orkneys to Land's End. In autumn they assemble in 

 large flocks, and shift from St Andrews. They make their nests 

 in holes of trees and old ruins — of which we have a fair share. 

 Their simple nest is composed of dry grass and moss ; eggs, five 

 or six — plain, bluish-green, 1\ in. long by J in. Their chief 

 food is worms and insects ; also fruit, grain, and seeds, with 

 small marine Crustacea, such as the sea louse (Oniscus Marinus)> 

 which they get by turning over small stones with their bills. 

 Their flight is not undulating, like the bunting's or linnet's, but 

 straight, like a kingfisher. They walk and run with equal ease, 

 like the larks or wagtails, but do not hop like thrushes or 

 sparrows. I have seen them in groups of twenty or thirty as 

 late as the 20th of April, but they generally begin to breed in 

 the middle of April. On May 1st, 1858, I got a nest with five 



