JULY 25, 1896.] ' FOREST AND STREAM. 6S 
bob o-link, bob o linJc; spinMmn, spanMum, spink; chee, 
ehee, chee. Then the crow blackbird and the catbird, 
they joined in the Fourth of July hurrah. I came very 
near forgietting about going a- fishing, but picked up my 
rod, dropped in a hole, and when the worms struck the 
water a small trout jumped for it and missed. I think it 
was my fault. The fish were jumping on all sides and 
wanted flies; couldn't get down to taking common angle 
worms. I caught eight trout in half a mile fishing, the 
smallest Sin, long and the longest 10. I lost the largest 
one, of course, and would have caught at least twenty 
more if I had only had flies to fish with — "that's right." 
But with all these disappointments I had a glorious 
time; I didn't once think of cash, or cash differences, of the 
ratio of 16 to 1, of McKinley, nor of any other man. With 
me the pleasures of an outing with rod or gun do hot depend 
on the number of fish in the creel or birds brought to bag, 
but upon the pleasures of tramping across the fields, 
through the woods or along the streams, and seeing in all 
of these evidences of the Creator's wisdom and goodness 
to us. H. 
Hudson, N. Y. ^ 
STARLINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
BY BDWIN IRVINE HAINES. 
[Bead before the Linrajan Society of New York at the American 
Museum of Natural History.] 
I.— The Starling Family. 
The starling family Shirnidce, nearly allied to our own 
blackbird familv leteridce, is found throughnnt the greater 
portion of the Eastern Hemisphere. The different conti- 
nents have birds of this family characteristic of them- 
selves, many of which, on account of their secluded 
habits, are little known. A starling peculiar to New Zea- 
land is the huiabird {Heteraloclia acutirostris); a strange 
property of the huia is that the male has a long straight 
beak and the female a curved one, A beautiful starling 
found very plentifully in western Asia (but unfortunately 
nowhere else) is the rose-colored pastor {Pastor roseiis), 
which frequents only sandy deserts and arid plains, and 
consequently is little known. The starlings found in 
Africa are very similar to our graokles or crow black- 
birds; the most important species of these is the oxpecker 
or buffalo bird, which follows cattle around for insects as 
our own cowbird does. A bird found in Sardinia, the 
species nearest to the common starling, is the Sardinian 
starling (Stutmus unicolor), and there are many others too 
numerous to mention. 
ir.— The Starling: Abroad dSfurnus vulgaris^. 
This Old World species is found in Russia, Siberia, 
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Italy, Madeira, the 
Canary and Azore Islands, India, Asia, the Himalaya 
Mountains, China, Japan, Africa (even as far south as the 
Cape of Good Hope), and all the countries bordering on 
the Mediterranean Sea. In England it is abundant every- 
where, from the Orkney and Shetland Islands to Corn- 
wall, and it is even common in the Oity of London, also 
in parts of Scotland, and is very abundant in Ireland and 
Germany. In some of these places it is resident, in others 
migratory. In the more northern portions of Europe 
the starlings begin to flock and migrate in thousands and 
thousands toward the latter end of June, and move 
slowly southward in huge flocks. In the evenings they 
collect in reed beds on tbe shores of rivers and lakes, and 
there spend the night. The noise these fl.ocks make can 
be heard for miles, and the rushing of their wings is said 
to resemble the muttering of a distant thunderstorm. 
In England, in the winter time, they wander over 
the country in search of food, but about the middle 
of February may be heard on the trees, or near the 
spots where they intend to nest. They begin to build 
their nests about the middle of April in church steeples, 
holes in walls and old ruins, or more often in bird houses 
erected for their use. It is said that every orchard in the 
neighborhood of towns or cities in Europe has at least two 
or three starling boxes in it. The Germans are very fond 
of the birds, and in Saxony not only is it considered a sin 
to kill one, but a very heavy punishment is inflicted upon 
the person who does so. As the starling is quick and cun- 
ning, the people of Germany often capture the young 
birds and bring them up, and easily teach them to speak 
words and sentences. One poor starling is said to have 
cried when anybody approached his cage, "I can't get outl 
I can't get out!" 
The birds are very gregarious among themselves, but do 
not often mingle with other birds. They are, however, 
very peaceful, but they will not let other birds impose on 
them; and woe to the English sparrow that attempts to 
bully them or take possession of their home while they 
are absent. 
The starling raises many broods during the summer, 
though at the same time as the nesting season numerous 
flocks move about the country and never pay any atten- 
tion to the birds that are breeding, nor do the nesting 
birds ever seem to notice them. Possibly some birds do 
not nest at all. Durmg the fall the young birds change 
their plumage from a drab to a sooty black, which takes a 
greenish tinge by Christmas. The older birds also change 
their plumage from the beautiful bronze and gold to a 
glossy black; but in the spring "the wanton lapwing gets 
himself another crest," and their coat again changes back 
to the iridescent bronze and green, and is covered with 
little white spots. It is from these spots or stars that the 
starling gets his name. Starling means in German "a lit- 
tle star." 
Ill -The Starling at Home. 
The starUng has been introduced into this country on 
several occasions, but only the last importation was suc- 
cessful. The birds were released in Central Park under 
the direction of Mr. Eugene Schieflin, of this city, but 
they soon left the park and went to various places in the 
upper part of the city. A pair nested at One Hundred 
and Twenty-second street and Lenox avenue, and another 
at One Hundredth street and Riverside drive. A flock of 
fifty birds were seen at Kingsbridge in the fall of 1893-94 
and another flock were seen at Platbush, L, I. , on Anrii 
16, 1895. ' ' ^ 
There is in the northern part of New York city a small, 
wild piece of land composed of fields and woods (in whose 
dark recess the "Bob White" of the quail may be often 
heard or the solemn drum of the partridge) which runs 
along the Sound for about two miles and is about a mile 
in breadth, called Pelham Biy Park. Here eight of these 
starlings settled, as if they knew they would not be dis- 
turbed. The woods and fields outside of the park offer 
just as good ground as the park affords, but they seemed 
to think it would be dangerous to venture theife. 
I first came across these birds on Feb. 30, 1895, in the 
upper part of the park, near Pelham Manor, It was dur- 
ing tbe cold snap that year, and the snow lay deep upon 
the ground. There were from thirty to forty birds in the 
flock. I saw them again and again that winter, and had 
abundant opportunity to watch them as they scoured over 
the snow-clad fields for food. They do this in a very busi- 
nesslike manner; descending in a cloud in one end of a 
field, they swoop along the ground for a short distance, 
and suddenly alight as one bird, as you may often have 
seen a flock of yellow-legs do on the seashore. Then they 
scatter, and run or walk along the ground, busily looking 
for food. If they have had good luck they will sud- 
denly fly into the highest tree handy, where they will all 
join in one grand chorus, as if of thanksgiving. After a 
few minutes spent in this way the whole flock suddenly 
cease to sing, and whirl off to the next field with a thun- 
derous rTish of wings, where, if everything is safe, they 
go through the same programme again. They station a 
sentinel, however, while they are feeding or singing, and 
if he sees anything suspicious he utters a loud crake, 
crake! when the whole flock (if singing) suddenly cease, 
and if the danger threatens they fly up into the air, whirl 
once or twice — with as much grace as pigeons — then fly 
away out of sight. I have often flushed tlie starlings, in 
order to watch their beautiful maneuvers, which are done 
as neatly as if by a single bird. Their flight is straight, 
strong, vigorous and rapid, and is performed with regular 
timed beating of the wings. 
The starlings are noted throughout the world as whis- 
tlers, and can mock as skillfully as a mockingbird. They 
EUROPEAN STARLING. 8ABDINIAN STARLING. 
can imitate to perfection bird cries from the hoarse croak 
of the heron to the mellow whistle of the meadowlark, 
also snipe of different varieties and red-winged blackbirds, 
and they often whistle like a boy. The weather does 
not affect their whistling in the least, and they will whis- 
tle as merrily on the coldest day in winter as a on fine day 
in spring. 
In the winter and early spring they stay in the upper 
part of the park, but as April advances they retire to the 
neighborhood of a boathouse owned by a Mr. Castrop, 
where they begin to build their nests in a big hollow oak 
tree in front of the house. The nests are rudely built of 
straw, leaves, feathers and twigs. They lay four to six 
blue eggs, the incubation of which lasts sixteen days. Mr, 
Castrop has told me that he has often seen the tree loaded 
with starlings about 4 o'clock in the morning, and they 
make such a noise with their whistling and chattering 
that sleep is impossible for the inmates of the house. 
There are at present about eighteen nests in this tree, but 
I think that they also nest somewhere else in the neigh- 
borhood. They often come there in the evenings in num- 
bers and probably roost thpre. Mr. Castrop has seen a 
flock of them numbering 300, and thinks that some go 
away in winter. I believe there are about ten different 
flocks of birds in the park, for I have seen two distinct 
ones on the same day and in places widely separated. 
Taking a rough estimate, I should think there are about 
2,000 birds in the park. They raise two broods, one in 
May, the other in July, and are very careful of their 
young. 
IV.— The Starlings' Usefulness to Mankind and 
their Probable Future. 
The starling is a great insect eater, and is probably one 
of the best of helpers to the agriculturist; he is also fond 
of fruit, but this may be forgiven him when we think 
how many harmful bugs he destroys. The young of 
the starling are fed entirely on insects, generally 
of the hard shell varieties, and they consume large 
quantities of the so-called June bug. This suggests that 
t&e chances are that if they could be successfully colon- 
izad where the locusts abound it would not be very long 
before these insects would be greatly reduced in numbers 
or completely destroyed. I also think that the birds 
could almost clean out the potato and striped squash bugs 
and generally lessen many other insect pests tnat are so 
coTimon in many of the States. 
Of the stfirling's future we are doubtful, but of the 
rapid increase of birds and their tendency to multiply we 
may have the best of hopes. We should be careful in the 
scientific world of to-day how we introduce our new 
species; naturalists bad a severe lesson in this in the in- 
troduction of rabbits into Australia and English sparrows 
into America; but with the starling we have nothing to 
fear. Favorites aa they are in Europa, of quick and 
sprightly ways, pleasing vocal powers, handsome in ap- 
arance gt endearing social ways, what a contrast 
are they to the English pparrow, and if the time ever 
comes when the starling is aa abundant in America as 
some of our own native species, let us hope he will prove 
a better companion than that wretched little specimen, 
sparrow the tramp. 
Sterne's Starling. 
It was Lawrence Sterne's starling which could not get 
out. The bird is one of the famous birds in literature. 
The story is told as one of the incidents in the "Senti- 
mental Journey." Sterne was in Pajis; it was tbe year 
1760 something, and a passport was one of the require- 
ments of an Englishman traveling in France. This 
Sterne was without, and his predicament suggested the 
Bastile, whereupon he soliloquized : 
And as for the Bastile— the terror is in the word. Make 
the moat of it you can, said I to myself; the Bastile is but 
another name for a tower, and a tower is but another 
word for a house you can't get out of. Mercy on the 
gouty! for they are in it twice a year. But with 9 livres 
a day, and a pen and ink and paper and patience, albeit a 
man can't get out, he may do very well within— at least 
for a month or six weeks, at the end of which, if he is a 
harmless fellow, his innocence appears, and he comes out 
a better and wiser man than he went in. 
I had some occasion (I forgot what) to step into the 
courtyard as I settled this account, and I remember I 
walked downstairs in no small triumph with the conceit 
of my reasoning. 
I was interrupted in the heyday of this soliloquy with 
a voice which I took to be of a child, which complained 
"it could not get out." I looked up and down the passage, 
and seeing neither man, woman nor child, I went out 
without further attention. 
In my return back through the passage I heard the 
same words repeated twice over, and looking up I saw it 
was a starling in a little cage. "I can't get out— I can't 
get out," said the starling. 
I stood looking at the bird; and to every person who 
came through the passage it ran fluttering to the side 
toward which they approached it, with the same lamen- 
tation of its captivity. "I can't get out," said the star- 
ling. "God help thee," said I; "but I'll let thee out, cost 
what it will." So I turned about the cage to gft at the 
door; it was twisted and double twisted so fast with wire 
that there was no getting it open without pulling the 
cage to pieces. I took both hands to it. 
The bird flew to the place where I was attempting his 
deliverance, and, thrusting his head through the trellis, 
pressed his breast against it, as if impatient. "I fear, 
poor creature," said I, "I cannot set thee at liberty." 
"No," said the starling, "I can't get out, I can't get out," 
said the starling. 
I vow I never had my affections more tenderly awa- 
kened; nor do I remember an incident in my life where 
the dissipated spirits to which my reason had been a bub- 
ble were so suddenly called home. Mechanical as tbe 
notes were, yet so true in tune to nature were they chant- 
ed that in one moment they overthrew all my systematic 
reasonings upon the Bastile, and I heavily walked up- 
stairs, unsaying evt-ry word I had said in going down 
them. 
******* 
I got into my remise the hour I proposed. La Fleur got 
up behind, and I bid the coachman make the best of his 
way to Versailles. 
As there was nothing in this road, or rather nothing 
which I look for in traveling, I cannot fill up the blank 
better than with a history of this selfsame bird, which 
became the subject of the last chapter. 
While the Honorable Mr. was waiting for a wind 
at Dover, it had been caught upon the cliffs, before it 
could well fly, by an English lad who was his groom, 
who, not caring to destroy it, had taken it in his breast 
into the packet, and, by course of feeding it and taking it 
once under his protection, in a day or two grew fond of 
it, and got it safe along with him to Paris. 
At Paris the lad had laid out a livre in a little cage for 
the starling; and as he had little to do better the five 
months his master stayed there, he taught it in his 
mother's tongue the four simple words (and no more) to 
which I owned myself so much its debtor. 
Upon his master's going on for Italy the lad had given 
it to the master of the hotel. But this little song for lib- 
erty being in an unknown language at Paris, the bird had 
little or no store set by him; so La Fleur bought him and 
his cage for me for a bottle of Burgundy. 
In my return from Italy, I brought him with me to the 
country in whose language he had learned his notes; and 
telling the story of him to Lord A., Lord A. besrged 
the bird of me; in a week Lard A. gave him to Lord 
B.; Lord B, made a present of him to Lord C, and 
Lord C.'s gentleman sold him to Lord D.'s for a shil- 
ling; Lord D, gave him to Lord E., and so on, half 
around the alphabet. From that rank he paesed into the 
lower house, and passed the hands of as many common- 
ers. But as all these wanted to get in, and my bird 
wanted to get out, he had almost as little store set by 
him in London as in Paris. 
It is impossible but many of my readers must have 
heard of him; and if by mere chance have ever seen him, 
I beg leave to inform them that that bird was my bird, 
or some vile copy set up to represent him. 
I have nothing further to add upon him, but that from 
that time to this I have borne this noor starling as a 
crest to my arms. And let the heralifs olficers twist his 
neck about if they dare. 
Bobolink in Assiniboia. 
ESTEVAN AssA, Canada. — ^In compliance with the re- 
quest of a correspondent in a recent issue of your excel- 
lent paper permit me to contribute a line or two relative 
of pur feathered songsters, the bobolink. These birds— the 
Western variety, I presume — appear to be more plentiful 
in this vicinity the present season than at any time during 
the four seasons immediately preceding. As many as 
half a dczen together have frequently been seen flitting 
about on the prairie and at a date subsequent to which 
one would have supposed their maternal duties had com- 
menced. The vicinity of clumps of dwarfish but fragrant 
flowering shrubs, known locally as wolf willow, appears tq 
be their favorite haunt. Here, perched on a swaying 
twig and oftentimes far out on the open prairie in the 
midst of almost primeval solitude, the chauce passer-by is; 
greeted with their melodious song, Wt 
