312 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



American at work upon this two-ounce bird with a ten-inch 

 knife is a sad but impressive spectacle. It is to be hoped that 

 it will be long ere the people of this country really have cause 

 to turn to this tiny song-bird — or any other song-bird — as a 

 source of food with which to satisfy hunger. How can any 

 self-respecting man deliberately order so pusillanimous a dish 

 as "Reed Birds on a skewer"? There is a land so populous 

 and poor that its people eat sparrows because they need them 

 for food; but it is far from America. 



The Bobolink is really a very acceptable singer, and has 

 furnished a theme for several poets, of whom Bryant was the 

 most celebrated. 



The Common European Starling, 1 recently introduced 

 at New York, is now spreading rapidly from its port of entry 

 and it is a bird not to be ignored. It is a short, thick-set 

 blackbird. In winter the male is marked by fine spear-points 

 of light buff, and a nearly white beak. In summer the plu- 

 mage of this bird is "black, brilliantly shot with purple-green 

 and steel blue." In winter this bird is conspicuous by the 

 fact that it lives in flocks, does not go South, and it pipes 

 up with a cheery whistle that quickly attracts attention. 

 They are bold and confident, and cheerfully invite themselves 

 to enjoy the hospitality of city parks and back yards. 



Already there are numerous complaints that this Starling 

 boldly drives woodpeckers and other birds out of their long- 

 established nesting-places. Many American bird-lovers de- 

 clare that already this bird is a nuisance, and in New York 

 it has purposely been omitted from the list of protected birds. 



1 Stur'nus vul-gar'is. 



