312 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 
American at work upon this two-ounce bird with a ten-inch 
knife is a sad but impressive spectacle. It is to be hoped that 
it will be long ere the people of this country really have cause 
to turn to this tiny song-bird—or any other song-bird—as a 
source of food with which to satisfy hunger. How can any 
self-respecting man deliberately order so pusillanimous a dish 
as “Reed Birds on a skewer”? There is a land so populous 
and poor that its people eat sparrows because they need them 
for food; but it is far from America. 
The Bobolink is really a very acceptable singer, and has 
furnished a theme for several poets, of whom Bryant was the 
most celebrated. 
THE Common EvrRopEAN STARLING,’ recently introduced 
at New York, is now spreading rapidly from its port of entry 
and it is a bird not to be ignored. It is a short, thick-set 
blackbird. In winter the male is marked by fine spear-points 
of light buff, and a nearly white beak. In summer the plu- 
mage of this bird is “black, brilliantly shot with purple-green 
and steel blue.” In winter this bird is conspicuous by the 
fact that it lives in flocks, does not go South, and it pipes 
up with a cheery whistle that quickly attracts attention. 
They are bold and confident, and cheerfully invite themselves 
to enjoy the hospitality of city parks and back yards. 
Already there are numerous complaints that this Starling 
boldly drives woodpeckers and other birds out of their long- 
established nesting-places. Many American bird-lovers de- 
clare that already this bird is a nuisance, and in New York 
it has purposely been omitted from the list of protected birds. 
1 Stur’nus vul-gar'is. 
