STARLINGS 



355 



its nose! The difference is perhaps not appreciable upon paper, but one 

 who is familiar with their calls need never confuse these two birds in the 

 field. The Fish Crow, while not confined to the coast or even the vicinity 

 of water, is not found far inland. 



The EUROPEAN ROOK (490.1. Corvus frugilegus) and the EUROPEAN 

 HOODED CROW (490.2. Corvus comix) are both of accidental occurrence in 

 Greenland. 



CLARKE'S NUTCRACKER (491. Nucifraga columbiana) of western North 

 America is of accidental occurrence in Iowa and Wisconsin. 



50. FAMILY STURNID^E. STARLINGS. (Fig. 62.) 



The sixty species of true Starlings (cf. Sharpe) are distributed 

 throughout the Old World except in Australia and New Guinea. The 

 only American representative was introduced into this country in 1890. 



493. Sturnus vulgaris Linn. STARLING. (Fig. 62.) Ads. in summer. 

 Metallic purplish or greenish; feathers of the upperparts all tipped with 

 cream-buff spots, feathers of the underparts marked only on the sides; lower 

 belly and under tail-coverts, wings, and tail dark brownish gray, edged with 

 cream-buff; bill yellow. Ads. and Im. in winter. Similar, but the upper- 

 parts heavily spotted with brownish cream-buff ; the entire underparts heav- 

 ily spotted with white; bill blackish brown. L., 8'50; W., 5'10; T., 2'50. 



Range. W. and cen. 

 Europe; winters s. to 

 Africa; accidental in 

 Greenland ; introduced 

 in 1890 in N. Y. City, 

 and thence has spread 

 as far as Springfield, 

 Mass., Stonington, 

 Conn., Orient, L. I., 

 Ossining, N. Y., and 

 Phila., Pa. 



Nest, of grasses, 

 twigs, etc., in a crevice in 

 a building or hollow tree. 

 Eggs, 4-6, pale bluish, 

 1'20 x '86. Date, Engle- 

 wood, N. J., May 15, 

 young on wing. 



The Starling was 

 introduced into this 

 country by Eugene 

 Schieffelin, who also 

 imported one of the 

 early shipments of House or 'English' Sparrows. Sixty Starlings were 

 released in Central Park, New York City, in 1890, and forty more in 

 1891, and from these one hundred birds (other introductions having 

 apparently failed) the thousands of Starlings now occupying the coun- 

 try for one hundred miles or more from New York City have descended. 

 In this area they are permanently resident, but there are pronounced 

 25 



FIG. 97. Starling; summer plumage. (Reduced.) 



