BRITISH BIRDS. 99 



green, blue, purple, and copper, but each feather 

 is marked at the end with a pale yellow spot; the 

 wing" coverts are edged with yellowish brown; the 

 quill and tail feathers dusky, w T ith light edges : 

 the legs are reddish brown. 



Few birds are more generally known than the 

 Starling, it being an inhabitant of almost every 

 climate ; and as it is a familiar bird, and easily 

 trained in a state of captivity, its habits have been 

 more frequently observed than those of most other 

 birds. They make an artless nest in the hollows of 

 trees, rocks, or old walls, and sometimes in cliffs 

 overhanging the sea ; lay four or five eggs, of a 

 pale greenish ash : the young are dusky brown till 

 the first moult. In the autumn they fly in vast 

 flocks, and may be known at a great distance by 

 their whirling mode of flight, which Buffon com- 

 pares to a sort of vortex, in which the collective 

 body performs an uniform circular revolution, and 

 at the same time continues to make a progressive 

 advance. The evening is the time when the Star- 

 lings assemble in the greatest numbers, and, it is 

 said, betake themselves to the fens and marshes, 

 where they roost among the reeds : they chatter 

 much in the evening and morning, both when they 

 assemble and disperse. So attached are they to 

 society, that they not only join those of their own 

 species, but also birds of a different kind, and 

 are frequently seen in company with Redwings, 

 Fieldfares, and even with Crows, Jack-Daws, and 

 Pigeons. Their principal food consists of worms, 

 snails, and caterpillars ; they are likewise accused 

 of sucking the eggs of other birds ; they eat various 

 kinds of grain, seeds, and berries, and are said to 



