THE STABLING, 427 



Family STURNID^. Starlings. 

 i68. Sturnus vulgaris Linn.eus. 



STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgaris LiNN^US, Sy.stema Naturae, ed. 10, I, 1758, 167. 



(B — , O — , R 279, C 363, U [493].) 



GeoGtEAPHICAl RANGE: Europe and northern Asia; accidental in Greenland. Intro- 

 duced in the United States. 



The Starling, a common European species, is admitted to our fauna from 

 the fact that a specimen has been taken in Greenland, where it can only be con- 

 sidered a straggler. 



Mr. Henry Seebohni says: "The Starling breeds throughout Europe north 

 of latitude 44°, and is a resident in the Azores. In Scandinavia it is found as 

 far north as latitude 69°, in Sweden and Finland up to latitude 65°,' and in the 

 Urals only up to latitude 57°, which appears to be its northern limit in Asia. 

 The European birds that are m.igratory winter in the south of France, the Span- 

 ish Peninsula, Italy, Grreece, North Africa, and Palestine. In Asia it breeds in 

 South Siberia, Persia, and Turkistan, ranging as far east as the sources of the 

 Amoor, passing through Mongolia, on migration, and wintering in India. 



"The Starling is almost as closely associated with man as the SpaiTOw; 

 but, unlike that bird, it seems to have a peculiar way of accommodating itself 

 to its surroundings with the greatest ease. Thus we see it almost everywhere 

 and in every variety of scenery. It will share the eaves and the dovecot with 

 the Sparrows and Pigeons. It will nestle in the hollow trees, far away from 

 houses, or make its home just as easily in the sides of the stupendous ocean 

 cliffs in company with the noisy crowd of sea birds, or on the limestone rocks 

 farther inland. After the breeding season the Starling becomes even more 

 widely distributed, and from August until the following spring haunts fields and 

 marshes, commons, gardens, and the low-lying shores, as its food supply may be 

 most abundant. The Starling is a gregarious bird at all seasons of the year; 

 but this habit is most marked after the nesting season, for in the spring the 

 scarcity of suitable breeding places usually disperses them. 



"Early in the year, sometimes as soon as the middle of January, the Star- 

 ling returns almost daily to its old nesting place, and in a week or so the male 

 begins his unpretentious song. He usually sings when perched on a chimney 

 or on the eaves near his nesting hole, or on the tree tops near at hand, and his 

 song is warbled forth as he rufiles the feathers of his head and throat and shakes 

 and droops his wings, as though full of nervous excitement. Although many of 

 the Starling's notes are harsh, still some of them are very full and pleasing, and 

 heard as they are, at a season when every sign of returning spring is eagerly 

 looked for and welcomed, are certainly one of the most cheerful sounds that 

 greet the ear. Each note is uttered in seeming caprice; the harsh ones are 



