168 



BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



YE who have power, — who presume that your 



WILL 



Is the measure that every weak being must fill, 



The characters of the tribe are a subulate, angular, depres- 

 sed, bluntish bill ; upper mandible entire, somewhat open at 

 the edges; nostrils surrotmded with a prominent rim; tongue 

 notched, pointed. The following are the chief. 



The Vulgaris, Stare, Starling, Shepstn, CUepster, or Chep- 

 Starlingy has the bill yellow, body black with white dots; the 

 colours however vary ; sometimes they are a beautiful green 

 and purple, and sometimes white, and, it is said, occasionally 

 black ; nine inches long. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and Ame- 

 rica, and common to our own country. Exceedingly gre- 

 garious, associating during the winter mouths in well-arranged 

 battalions, and sometimes with other birds not of their own 

 tribe. The males are very pugnacious, often fighting during 

 the pairing season for the females with much rancour, the 

 females themselves being the while passive spectators. Their 

 docility and the beauty of their plumage have rendered them 

 great favourites. Their natural notes are a shrill whistle and 

 a chattering; but they may be taught to imitate the human 

 voice, and sing song-tunes. Sterne has immortalized this bird 

 if) his SentimentalJourney : — "The bird flew to the place where 



1 was attempting his deliverance, and, thrusting his head through 

 the trellis, pressed his head against it, as if impatient. — I fear, 

 poor creature, said I, I cannot set thee at liberty. — ' No,' said 

 the starling, ' I can't get out,— I can't get out.' Disguise thy- 

 self as thou wilt, still, Slavery, said I,— still thou art a bitter 

 draught '."—Page 101, Edit. Lond. 1804. 



They feed on insects and worms ; but their flesh is so bitter as 

 to be scarcely eatable. They build in ruinous edifices or the cliflf 

 of a rock, and sometimes in a hollow tree, and sometimes in the 

 deserted nest of another bird. Eggs four or five, of a pale 



