STURNUS VULGARIS. 



Linncei Syst. Nat. 290. 



THE STARLING, OR STARE. 



PLATE I. 



X he Starling in shape resembles the common black- 

 bird, but is inferior in size. The bill is compressed, 

 broad at the tip ; in the cock of a pale yellow, in the 

 hen dusky; the irids of the eyes are brown, paler on 

 the upper side. 



The head, neck, back, throat, breast, and belly, are 

 black, with a gloss of purple, varying into green, very 

 bright and glistering. 



The feathers are narrow and pointed, and those on 

 the neck, back, rump, and on the thighs, in the male 

 bird, are tipped with a brownish colour at their extreme 

 points. In the female these spots are paler, larger, and 

 more numerous, being extended over the whole head, 

 neck, breast, and belly. 



The first quill feathers of the wing are of a dusky 

 black, with narrow borders of a pale brown. The sec- 

 ond quills are of the same colour, with a shade of a 

 darker hue near the tip. The covert feathers glister with 

 green, and those next the shoulder of the wing are some 

 of them pointed with brown. The tail is shorter than 

 that of the blackbird, a little forked, and of a dusky 

 black; the feathers have narrow borders of a pale brown. 

 The legs and feet are of a yellowish flesh colour ; the 

 claws horn colour, with black tips. 



Their food is worms, beetles, and various kinds of 

 berries, and in this part of the kingdom they seem to be 

 particularly fond of those of the * berry-bearmg-heatk, 

 avwberries, oi which I have given a figure, with its fruit, 

 at the bottom of the plate. 



* Empetrum nigrum. 



