Gbe Marbler 



21 



where they often attract attention through their noisy chatterings, in which 

 they are joined by the parent birds in their efforts to administer to their 

 wants in the way of food. Their numbers are so small however, in compar- 

 ison with what may be seen in some of the cities of Europe that this medley of 

 noises occasions no special annoyance to the inhabitants of the vicinity 

 wherein it occurs. 



With us the bird is generally known as the European Starling, while 

 in the Old World it is known as simply the Starling or the common Stare, 

 and by numerous other names over the various regions of its extended range. 

 In this country it is most closely related to the Corvidae on the one hand, 

 and the Icteridae on the other, a position it also occupies in the system in the 

 avifauna of Europe. According to Alfred Newton, the distinguished British 

 ornithologist, examples from Kashmir, Persia and Armenia have been con- 

 sidered worthy of specific distinction, and some of them are suspected to 

 occur occasionally in England {cf. Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mas. xiii, pp. 26-38, 

 and Jour, fiir Orn. 1891, pp. 307, 308), while the resident Starling of the 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean is generally regarded as a good species, 

 and called S. unicolor from its unspotted plumage. It of course goes with- 

 out the saying that the bird in the United States differs in no way in its 



the stakling (Sturnus vulgaris) 



