Common Starling. 211 



to come ainiss to their appetite ; and perfectly harmless, so much 

 so as to have excited but little enmity and little persecution from 

 man. 



91. COMMON STARLING (Sturnus vuLgaritt). 



This is one of our most constant companions, frequenting the 

 roofs of our houses for nesting purposes, marching about our 

 lawns and gardens all day in search of worms, wheeling about on 

 rapid wing in small companies around us, and otherwise de- 

 meaning itself as an innocent harmless bird should do, its mens 

 conscia rectl giving it confidence, and demanding its protection, 

 or at least comparative freedom from molestation, at the hands 

 of man. Moreover, it lends its gratuitous services to the shepherd, 

 .and may often be seen perched on the sheep's back, giving its 

 friendly aid to rid them of their troublesome parasites. In. 

 Sweden it is looked upon I know not why with a sort of 

 veneration, and, in common with the stork, is protected, and 

 rash indeed, and dead to all sense of shame, must he be who 

 would molest a Starling in that country. In the desert of North 

 Africa, on the other hand, where vast flocks resort in winter to 

 the date forests, and do incalculable damage to the ripe fruit, 

 they are destroyed by thousands. Moreover, they are highly 

 prized by the Arabs as excellent food ; but notwithstanding such 

 wholesale and continual destruction, there seems to be no appre- 

 ciable diminution of its numbers till the date crop is gathered 

 and spring commences, when not a straggler remains in Africa.* 

 In like manner in the Azores, when vines were more cultivated, 

 it was relentlessly destroyed, as it was accused of feeding on the 

 grapes.f Professor New'ton says that in England a very great 

 increase in numbers of this species has been going on for some 

 years past. J The English name Starling, which is the diminutive 

 of Stare, the German Staar, the French Etorneau, the Spanish 

 Estornino, and the Portuguese Estorninho, are all derived from 



* Canon Tristram, in Ibis for 1859, p. 293. 

 f P. Grodman, in Ibis for 18G6, p. 98. 



Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. ii., p. 231. 



142 



