274 THE STARLING. 



thus explained : — " Popingay, a parrot ; Papegaut, Fr. ; 

 Papegaey, Belg. ; Papagallo, Ital." 



In the Privy Purse expenses of King Henry VIII. the 

 following entry occurs under date November, 1532 : — 



" Itrft. — The laste daye paied in rewarde to a 

 woman that wolde have gyven a popin- 

 gay to the King's grace . x S: 



The practice of turning to advantage the capability 

 which certain birds possess for learning to utter words 

 must be of some antiquity, for Pliny alludes to the 

 starlings which were trained for the amusement of the 

 young Caesars, as being capable of uttering both Latin 

 and Greek. 



Shakespeare thus refers to the starling's talking 

 powers : — 



" Hotspur. He said, he would not ransom Mortimer ; 

 Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ; 

 But I will find him when he lies asleep, 

 And in his ear I '11 holloa, ' Mortimer ! ' 

 Nay, I '11 have a starling shall be taught to speak 

 Nothing but ' Mortimer,' and give it him, 

 To keep his anger still in motion." 



Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3. 



It is stated that when M. Girardin visited his friend 

 M. Thirel in Paris, he was agreeably astonished at hearing 

 a starling articulate a dozen consecutive sentences with the 



