284 
STURNIM. 
white bands across the wings, and the wing-feathers generally (but 
not all) tipped with white. The form of the bill is identically 
that of L. bifasciata. 
But few individuals of the white-winged crossbill have been 
obtained in England or Scotland. 
THE STABLING. 
Stare. 
Sturms vulgaris , Linn. 
Is common, and breeds in many parts of the island. 
Montagu remarks of this species, that “ many stay with us the 
whole year; but the vast flocks that are seen in severe winters pro- 
bably migrate to this country [England] in search of food, and 
return northward in the spring. We have observed continued flights 
of these birds going westward into Devonshire and Cornwall in 
hard weather, and their return eastward as soon as the frost breaks 
up.” Mr. Knapp observes that, — “ towards autumn the broods 
unite and form large flocks ; but those prodigious flights with 
which in some particular years we are visited, especially in parts 
of those districts formerly called the f fen-counties/ are probably 
an accumulation from other countries.” The Bishop of Norwich, 
in his * Eamiliar History of Birds/ gives as his opinion, “ that 
they are partially migratory, quitting one part of the kingdom for 
another;” and Sir Wm. Jardine states, that “in many parts of 
Scotland where they do not breed, they are migratory, appearing 
in autumn and spring.” 
It is now many years since Mr. Templeton, in his valuable 
‘ Naturalists’ Beport 9 published in the Belfast Magazine, called 
attention to the regular migration of starlings into Ireland. 
In that portion of the north of the island with which I am 
myself best acquainted, there is nothing irregular in the migra- 
tion of starlings ; they do not await any severity of weather ; and 
although they may occasionally change their quarters when within 
the island, yet of all our birds, they present the clearest evidence 
