610 
Agricultural Gazette of N.S.IF, 
[July 2, 1912. 
The Starling. 
A Study in Agricultural Zoology. 
WALTER W. EROGGATT, F.L.S., Government Entomologist. 
Various European birds were introduced into Australia many years ago, 
when the Englishman, in sentimental mood, wished to see the birds of his 
boyhood days around him; and some well meaning but misguided persons 
introduced the sparrows, blackbirds, and mo^t of the song-birds. Among 
these birds was the common starling. It landed somewhere on the shores of 
Hobson’s Bay, and soon made its way into the city and suburbs of Melbourne, 
where it was firmly established over thirty j^ears ago. There may have been 
a special importation from England, but I think that the ancestors of the 
present Sydney starlings were brought from Victoria. 
In the days when acclimatisation was in the air, Australian birds were not 
considered in any way interesting. Even as far back as 1843, Assistant 
Surgeon Bartlett (“New Holland, 1843”) wrote : — 
At niglit no more he hears the delightful warblings of the queen of songsters—the 
charming nightingale. The hoarse croaking of the offensive bullfrog, and the incessant 
buzzing of the hideous mosquito, he takes in exchange for the gladdening tones of 
England’s fairy songsters. 
Mr. R. H. Horn voiced this un-Australian feeling in “ Australian Facts 
and Prospects,” published in 1859, wherein he bewails the fact that the ugly 
gum-trees spoilt the beautiful park-like land near Melbourne, and says “if 
they could all be cleared away, and replaced with oaks, elms, Am., the land¬ 
scape would be greatly improved.” 
’The starling was known in old England as the “stare” or “starred,” 
starling ” being the modern name of this bird. The members of the star¬ 
ling family belong to the genus Sturnus, of which the common starling 
{Sturnns vulgaris) is a typical form, breeding throughout the greater part of 
temperate Europe. 'I 
It is one of the most adaptive of what we might call domestic birds, and 
not only has it extended its range across Asia to .lapan, but it has travelled 
downward, over the Mediterranean, to the southern parts of Africa, while it 
has also found its way to the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira. 
Artificially it has been introduced into Ta';mania and New Zealand, as well 
as Australia, and wherever it comes it remains a settled resident. 
The common starling is not found in North America, but its place is taken 
by a closely allied form that was once known under the scientific name of 
Sturnus prceditorius, and has many popular names which denote its 
destructive habits, such as the “Corn-thief” or “Rice Bird,” (hough another 
popular name, the “Red-winged Blackbiid,” defines it much better. This is 
the Bob-o’-Link of the popular natural history books of the United States 
