it is still a rare bird in summer. With regard to Ireland,
according to Thompson, it is common and breeds in many
parts of the island, but investigation of the evidence offered
by him (in great detail) and other Irish naturalists, especially
Mr. Blake Knox, shews that its breeding-places there
are still few and far between, that from most districts it
disappears altogether in spring, and that it is only abundant
in winter—regularly arriving in the north, as first
observed by Templeton, in autumn, though it has been
known to immigrate at midsummer (Zool. p. 9211).
The Starling is stated by Prof. Reinhardt to have once
strayed to Greenland. In the Faeroes it is resident and the
native race of those islands can generally be distinguished
from that of our own. In Norway it occurs, but not very
plentifully, so high as the Lofodens, and it has been repeatedly
observed at Tromso in spring and autumn, while it
has twice been obtained in East Finmark. In Sweden it is
unknown to the north of about lat. 64 N. It appears in
the western and southern provinces of Finland, throughout
Russia, to the southward of lat. 60° N. and thence across
Siberia, at a somewhat lower elevation, to Lake Baikal, but
its limits are not defined with any certainty by Dr. Radakoff *.
The asserted extension of its range to China and Japan is
very doubtful, but it is found in Northern India, and even
near Calcutta. Some ornithologists have considered the
Indian bird to form a distinct species, but most authorities
deny its validity. In Cashmere and Persia, however,
there is a Starling, Sturnus humii, which seems to differ
constantly from the common species, and so likewise in
Armenia, where is found a form distinguished as S.
purpurascens; but our S. vulgaris probably occurs as well
in all these countries—certainly in Persia. It also visits
Asia Minorf, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt, in winter. At
* H a n d -A tla 3 d e r geographischen A u sb reitu n g d e r in europäischen Russland
n isten d en Vögel. Fol. Moskau : 1876.
T The Marchese Oratio A n tin o ri e stimated a flock h e saw in J an u a ry , 1858,
Crossing th e Gulf of Smyrna to co n tain 2 ,5 0 0 ,0 0 0 b ird s (Journ. f ü r Orn. 1858,
p . 489).
the same season it appears regularly in Mauritania, the
Canaries and Madeira, though it does not breed there as it
does in the Azores, where it is common and resident. To
Portugal, Spain, Southern France, Italy, Turkey and Greece,
as well as the Mediterranean islands, it is a more or less
abundant winter-visitant, but in most if not all of these
countries its place as a resident is taken by the nearly allied
species S. unicolor. Throughout the rest of Europe it is
generally common, though with some scattered exceptions,
as for instance, according to Dr. Borggreve, part of Uppei
Silesia. In some places it has been induced to take up
its quarters by accommodating it with nest-boxes, and
Mr. Dresser says that in Russia he found many villages so
supplied; the people knowing the great services it renders
to their crops, and especially in ridding the oak-forests of
the injurious Tortrix viridana. Holland seems by all
accounts to be the country in which the Starling is most
numerous.*
The adult male in summer has the bill yellow, light blue
at the base: the irides brownf : almost the whole plumage
black, but brilliantly shot with purple, green and, in some
parts, with steel-blue, according to the reflection of the light;
the feathers of the hind head, nape and upper parts generally,
tipped with white or pale buff, in the form of triangular
spots; wing- and tail-quills greyish-black, partially shot
with like brilliant hues on the outer web, and edged with light
reddish-brown : legs, toes and claws, dark reddish-bro win
The whole length is eight inches and a half; the wing
from the carpal joint, five inches and one-eighth : the first
primary about half an inch in length.
After the autumnal moult the feathers of the whole of
the head, and of the lower parts generally, are broadly
* The S ta rlin g has be en ta k e n to New Zealand, where i t will doubtless a id in
th e ex tin c tio n of th e o rig in al av ifau n a . The b itte r ta ste of its flesh h a s long
been notorious, b u t th is does n o t h in d e r th e b ird from being served a t foreign
tables as a “ Grive”, in a n tic ip a tio n of tb e season when Th ru sh e s are a b u n d an t
t Macoillivray says h e h a s seen th e iris yellowish, an d i t is perhaps worthy of
rem a rk th a t several exotic species of Sturnidce h ave w hite or b rig h t yellow eyes.