7 86 



The Sparrow-like Birds 



easily and gracefully on the ground, where they secure the principal portion 

 of their food, which consists mainly of grain, seeds, berries, and insects. They 

 place their usually bulky nests in holes in trees, cliffs, or about buildings, or 

 a few in the branches of trees, and uniformly lay unspotted eggs of various tints 

 of blue. 



The typical Starlings (Sturnus] have the bill about as long as the head, 

 the wings long and pointed, and the tail short and square, while the feathers 

 of the head, throat, and breast are hackled; the color is black glossed with 

 greenish, purple, or lilac. The sexes are similar, the female being usually 

 a little less brilliant, but there are quite marked differences between the winter 

 and summer plumages, due, however, to the wearing away of the buff tips to 



FIG. 218. English Starling, Sturnus vulgaris. 



the feathers at the beginning of summer. The common species of western 

 Europe (5. vulgaris) is easily distinguished by having the head, throat, shoulders, 

 and wing-coverts green, and the flanks steel-blue or greenish blue. This species 

 is a common and familiar bird throughout most of its range, and being very 

 adaptable in disposition, has increased enormously of late years, notably in 

 England, where it is a universal favorite. It is a sturdy, hardy bird on which the 

 weather has very little effect, being partially migratory and partially stationary, 

 breeding abundantly in central and northern Europe and during the cold season 

 retiring more or less completely to southern Europe and northern Africa. Gre- 

 garious at all times, even during the nesting season, it frequents fallow fields, 

 pastures, and meadows, often in company with its larger relative, the Rook, 

 and during the winter and early spring subsists almost entirely upon various 

 insects and their larvae, of which it destroys incalculable numbers. It also 

 frequents the larger city parks and landed estates, and in summer adds to its 



