COMMON STARLING. 49 



quarter of an inch shorter than the third ; the other primary 

 quills diminishing regularly in succession, each about a quar- 

 ter of an inch shorter than the quill-feather which pre- 

 cedes it. 



A male in his second summer having moulted but once, 

 has not acquired the fine yellow beak, and both the upper 

 and under surface of the body are varied by a greater number 

 of light-coloured spots. Very old males acquire an addi- 

 tional number of spots at their autumnal moult, which they 

 carry through the winter to the commencement of the fol- 

 lowing spring, when the light-coloured tips being many of 

 them worn off, and the beak becoming yellow, they present 

 the appearance first described. 



Young birds of the year, before their first autumnal moult, 

 are of a uniform greyish brown colour ; the throat white, and 

 a tinge of white on the belly and vent ; the feathers of the 

 winffs and tail darker brown, with light reddish brown 

 edges. In this stage the young Starling has been called the 

 Solitary Thrush, and has also been considered the young of 

 another Continental species. Montagu's specimen being 

 still preserved in his collection at the British Museum, no 

 doubt remains that his bird was nothing more than a young 

 Starlino- before the commencement of its first moult. During 

 the first moult, which occurs in its first autumn, the plumage 

 of the young Starling presents a curious mixture, the fea- 

 thers appearing in patches, some of plain brown, and others 

 of the dark colour of the second dress. 



The female Starling is very similar to the male at the same 

 age, but the plumage is rather less brilliant in colour, r.nd 

 the white spots on the under surface of the body are larger 

 than those of the male ; but both sexes carry a much greater 

 number of spots from autumn to spring than from spring to 

 autumn ; the moult, however, only occurs and produces a 

 change in the autumn ; the change in the spring is efi^ected 



VOL. II. E 



