THE STARLING 18? 



them be ever so neat themselves, they would render the room dirty. 

 When caged, they must be furnished witli a cage at least two feet long, 

 and one and a half both in height and width. Very restless and always 

 in motion, they require sufficient space to take exercise and keep their 

 plumage uninjured. 



Food. — When wild they eat not only caterpillars, snails, 'vorms, 

 insects, and the flies which torment the cattle in the field ; but also 

 cherries, grapes, berries of all sorts, and different sorts of grain, as millet 

 and hemp seed. 



In confinement they eat meat, worms, bread, cheese, the universal paste, 

 indeed, anv food, provided it is not sour. When first caught, they are 

 supplied with earth and rneal- worms, and they soon become as tame as sf 

 they had been brought up from the nest; but, as there is no rule without 

 exceptions, we sometimes meet with individuals which obstinately refuse 

 to eat, whatever pains may be taken to induce them, and which die of 

 hunger. 'J his bird delights in bathing often, it must therefore never be 

 left without fresh water in a proper vessel. 



Breeding — The starling builds in the holes of trees, and even in boxes, 

 or pots with long necks, suspended to trees, or under the roof, or in 

 pigeon-houses. Its simple nest is composed of dry leaves, hay, and 

 feathers. Like the swallow it returns to the same nest every year, only 

 taking care to clean it out. It lays twice in the year, seven eggs each 

 time, whose colour is ashy green. The young, before moulting, are of 

 rather a yellowish soot colour, than pure black. The beak is dark 

 brown ; those which are bred from the nest, and which are easily reared 

 on white bread soaked in milk, repeat the airs they are taught in a stronger 

 and more distinct manner than bullfinches and linnets. They can, indeed, 

 repeat a succession of couplets without changing or mixing them. In 

 Voigtlande, the peasants use the starling like domestic pigeons ; they eat 

 the young, which they take before they can fly ; by this means they 

 obtain three broods, but they do not touch the last, both in order not to 

 discourage and drive away the father and mother, and not to diminish this 

 branch of economy. 



Starlings have been seen to build in dwelling-houses, in an earthen vase 

 with a long neck, appropriated to the purpose *. 



Diseases. — I know none peculiar to them. These birds will live ten 

 or twelve years in confinement. 



Mode of Taking. — It is principally in autumn, and in places filled witli 

 reeds, that the bird-catchers take great numbers of starlings in nets 

 prepared for the purpose. They may also be procured by means of an 

 osier fish-net, placed among the reeds, which tliey frequent in the evening, 

 and baited with cherries. Though this means is limited, as many as a 

 hundred have been procured by it in one night. 



In Thuringia it is never attempted to catch them for the house except 

 in the month of March, when snow falls after their airival. For this 



* I saw a colony of starlings established on this plan at an inn at Loyden 



Translator. 



