244 
A Clever Starli)ig. 
time come over, but, I believe, this is the first consignment of 
any size to reach tliis country for many years. 
In full colour they are striking looking birds, having the 
head, neck, and thighs a brilliaiU scarlet, and the remainder of 
the body glossy black. The young birds are at first entirely 
black. 
Having two or three aviaries with marshy ponds and 
growing ruslies, I bought three pairs with a view to attempting 
to breed them next season. 
The two adult birds did not live long, but the four young 
ones, which are in various stages of change of colour, have done 
very well. 
Amongst them is one particularly intelligent bird. I 
foimd this out first by discovering the mealworm tin one day 
without a cover, and most of its occupants gone. I thought 
that this must have been due to my carelessness, so I replaced 
the cover. The next morning the tin was again open, and its 
contents gone, so I refilled it and waited to see what happened. 
T had barely left the aviary before one of the Starlings was down 
on the table and hammering away at the cover of the tin with 
its wedge-shaped bill. Seven or eight sharp blows and off flew 
the cover when the bird promptly flew up and helped himself to 
all the mealworms within reach, and, as these unsuspecting 
creatures, the moment the cover is off, try to crawl out, he had 
only to wait for them to crawl up to get a crop full. 
I jnust say that the cover of the tin fits on quite tightly. 
Thinking to outwit the clever bird I turned the cover side 
down on the table, and left the tin inverted. To wy astonish- 
ment, the next morning the tin was on its side and jr.in empty. 
I found that the bird managed this by inserting its wedge-shaped 
bill under the tin and then opening the mandibles widr ; this had 
the effect of levering the tin over on its side, when he would 
promptly knock the cover off and help himself and h\< friend -. 
The tapping of the beak on the tin is now the signal for the other 
birds in the aviary to assemble to the feast. 
