206 THE BROWN STARLING. 



hend 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 dis- 

 turbed, 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 

 colour, 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 ob- 

 servable 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, way-worn tra- 

 veller even in its youth. 



It was a very ancient observation, and modern 

 investigation seems fully to confirm it, that many 

 of the serpent race captured their prey by infatua- 



