The Story of a 
Starling. 
(* 5 ) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
was made up. I would keep him should 
he never speak or whistle again, as I 
was quite carried away with the perfec¬ 
tion of his training. Intimation was 
sent to the editor to send on the cash 
to the seller, and I was the proud pos¬ 
sessor of the most wonderful talking 
and singing Starling that ever stood in 
a cage. 
His Tame Quickly Spread. 
His fame got known far and near, 
and people came miles to see and hear 
him. He could whistle “ The Soldier’s 
Joy ” hornpipe so well that you could 
•dance to the tune, and he seemed de¬ 
lighted if you did so. After he had 
finished whistling he would say, “ That’s 
the way to whistle.” If you annoyed 
him he would ruffle up his feathers and 
shout out, “ What do you want ” ? At 
the same time I had a grey Parrot which 
was considered a perfect talker, but in 
my opinion the Starling was miles ahead 
in oratory, and in intelligence far 
beyond, for he could converse with you, 
whereas the Parrot never could. Joey 
was first favourite and admired by all. 
A gem not often picked up, one we 
bear, and read about, but very seldom 
see. I remember one afternoon a gentle¬ 
man called on me regarding some York¬ 
shire toy terriers I had, and which he 
was anxious to have a look at. I left 
him waiting outside my bird room to 
fetch the dog, saying, at same time, 
■“ I’ll be back in a minute, no one is 
about.” When I returned he looked at 
me, and then whispered there was some 
one in my room, for he heard him 
speak and whistle. I smiled, and in¬ 
formed him that it was only Joey the 
Starling, but so unbelieving was my 
friend that he doubted me, till once he 
heard the Starling speak and whistle 
himself. 
Pat’s Conversion. 
At another time I had men laying 
granolithic in front of my aviaries, and 
among them were a few Irish labourers, 
one in particular who was a very ready- 
witted man. On hearing the Starling for 
the first time, he exclaimed, “ I never 
kept a bird in me loife, but I could take 
a present of thaat wan.” During their 
dinner hour, they would start Joey to 
whistle the hornpipe, and all would 
dance to the tune, the sight of which 
would have made your heart glad. Sad 
was the day when they had to say good¬ 
bye to Joey. 
Joey’s Debut at a Show. 
The Glasgow Show was near at hand, 
and nothing would do but enter Joey in 
the large British class, so I set to and 
made a special show cage, painted it the 
proper colour, and when I put him in 
he did look grand. He got into the 
tickets, fourth or fifth, I think. I 
thought he should have had more, but 
this did not make him less in my eyes. 
He did not exhibit any of his rare gifts 
at the Show, no doubt owing to being in 
a strange place, and to so many people 
being about. On his return from the ex¬ 
hibition I did not unpack him till the 
Sunday morning, as I thought it best to 
let him rest for the night in his show 
cage and carrying box. When morning 
came I got down his stock cage, opened 
the side door, took Joey out of his carry¬ 
ing cage, and ran him into his regular 
quarters, gave him his food, and went 
about my other business, little thinking 
I had forgotten to fasten the front door 
of his cage. 
Joey Departs. 
Being of an inquisitive nature he must 
have lifted this door, and as the window 
of bird room was open he had the world 
before him, so went to explore. It was 
some time before I returned, and as I 
entered the premises I noticed a stillness 
which I failed to understand. What 
could it be? Had a cat got into the 
room ? No ! The dog was lying sleep¬ 
ing quite content. What was wrong? I 
looked for an explanation, and very soon 
found it. An empty cage, an open door, 
and an open window told the tale. My 
Starling was gone. Alas, poor Joey ! 
