STARLING. 241 



the same season it appears regularly in Mauritania, the 

 Canaries and Madeira, though it does not breed there as it 

 does in the Azores, where it is common and resident. To 

 Portugal, Spain, Southern France, Italy, Turkey and Greece, 

 as well as the Mediterranean islands, it is a more or less 

 abundant winter-visitant, but in most if not all of these 

 countries its place as a resident is taken by the nearly allied 

 species S. unicolor. Throughout the rest of Europe it is 

 generally common, though with some scattered exceptions, 

 as for instance, according to Dr. Borggreve, part of Upper 

 Silesia. In some places it has been induced to take up 

 its quarters by accommodating it with riest-boxes, and 

 Mr. Dresser says that in Eussia he found many villages so 

 supplied ; the people knowing the great services it renders 

 to their crops, and especially in ridding the oak-forests of 

 the injurious Tortrix viridana. Holland seems by all 

 accounts to be the country in which the Starling is most 

 numerous.* 



The adult male in summer has the bill yellow, light blue 

 at the base: the irides brown t : almost the whole plumage 

 black, but brilliantly shot with purple, green and, in some 

 parts, with steel-blue, according to the reflection of the light ; 

 the feathers of the hind head, nape and upper parts gene- 

 rally, tipped with white or pale buff, in the form of trian- 

 gular spots; wing- and tail-quills greyish-black, partially shot 

 with like brilliant hues on the outer web, and edged with light 

 reddish-brown : legs, toes and claws, dark reddish -brown. 



The whole length is eight inches and a half; the wing 

 from the carpal joint, five inches and one-eighth : the first 

 primary about half an inch in length. 



After the autumnal moult the feathers of the whole of 

 the head, and of the lower parts generally, are broadly 



* The Starling has been taken to New Zealand, where it will doubtless aid in 

 the extinction of the original avifauna. The bitter taste of its flesh has long 

 been notorious, but this does not hinder the bird from being served at foreign 

 tables as a " Grire", in anticipation of the season when Thrushes are abundant. 



t Macgillivray says he has seen the iris yellowish, and it is perhaps worthy of 

 remark that several exotic species of Stiu-nidce have white or bright yellow eyes. 



