THE BROWN STARLING. 143 



year (1826) 1 had one caught in a trap, unable to resist 

 the tempting plunder of a cherry tree, in conjunction 

 with half the thrushes in the neighborhood. I have 

 seen a few, small, thrushlike birds associate and feed 

 with the missel thrush in our summer pastures, which 

 I suspect to be solitary starlings : but, wild and wary 

 like them, they admit no approach to verify the species ; 

 and they appear likewise to follow and mix with this 

 bird, when it visits us in autumn, to gather the berries 

 of the yew and the mountain ash. I am not certain 

 where it passes its winter season, but apprehend it 

 mingles in the large flights of the common species. It 

 returns to our pastures, however, for a short period in the 

 spring, in small parties of six or ten individuals. The 

 common stare, when disturbed, rises and alights again 

 at some distance, most generally on the ground ; but 

 the brown starling settles frequently on some low bush, 

 or small tree, before it returns to its food. I know of 

 no description that accords so well with our bird as that 

 in Bewick's supplement, excepting that the legs of 

 those which I have seen are of a red brown color, the 

 bill black, and the lower mandible margined with 

 white ; but age and sex occasion many changes in tints 

 and shades. This species possesses none of those 

 beauties of plumage so observable in the common 

 starling, and all those fine prismatic tintings that play 

 and wander over the feathers of the latter are wanting 

 in the former. Its whole appearance is like that of a 

 thrush, but it presents even a plainer garb; its browns 

 are more dusky and weather-beaten ; and for the beau- 

 tiful mottled breast of the throstle, it has a dirty white, 

 and a dirtier brown. I scarcely know any bird less 

 conspicuous for beauty than the solitary thrush : it 

 seems like a bleached, wayworn traveller, even in its 

 youth. 



It was a very ancient observation, and modern inves- 

 tigation seems fully to confirm it, that many of the 

 serpent race captured their prey by infatuation or in- 

 timidation ; and there can be no doubt of the fact, that 

 instinctive terror will subdue the powers of some crea- 

 tures, rendering them stupefied and motionless at the 



