STARLING. l6l 



I hope that many of my readers may make the 

 acquaintance of this most remarkable and interesting 

 bird. Longfellow thus alludes to its vocal capabilities : 



" In the groves of pine it singeth 

 Songs like legends, strange to hear." 



STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgar is ; VEtourneau vulgaire; Gemeiner staar. 

 The Stare. 



Bill, yellow ; feet, flesh-colour ; plumage, black, with 

 metallic purple, green, and bronze reflections ; each 

 feather tipped with brownish-white ; tail, short. Length, 

 about nine inches. 



Who does not know the Starling, or the Stare, as he 

 is so frequently called ? Who has not heard him in the 

 tall elm-tree, or on the chimney-top, wheezing, scream- 

 ing, singing, piping, turning his head restlessly all the 

 while, as if expecting a sudden descent from the sky of 

 some unknown prodigy of nature ? Who has not seen 

 him " swimming" across the open, and envied the light- 

 ness and fleetness of that free wing of his ? Well-known, 

 indeed, he is everywhere, and everywhere at home, from 

 the North Cape to the Cape of Good Hope, from Siberia 

 to China and Japan, from Iceland to the Canaries, from 

 the Shetland Isles to Cornwall. A country bird and a 

 city bird, a London bird and a Dublin bird, his pleasing 

 shape and his wonderful voice make him one of the 

 most familiar of all wild birds. 



M 



