Grantham, was in Banks’s possession, and that he was informed
of one or more being shot almost every season near
Ormskirk. In 1796, Shaw figured the species, stating that
an example had been shot the year before in Oxfordshire.
The increased attention paid to ornithology during the
present century shews that this beautiful creature has
occurred more or less often in nearly three-fourths of the
English counties*, and that its appearance, though to some
extent irregular in point of season and place, may probably
be an annual event. The majority of instances, as might
he expected, are recorded from the eastern side of the kingdom,
hut the bird has not unfrequently been obtained in the
extreme west—near the Land’s End and in the Scilly Isles,
while it has been also met with both in South and North
Wales. According to Thompson it has visited all quarters
of Ireland, including the range of the most western counties,
the latter assertion being supported by details of its capture
on the Isles of Arran in Galway Bay, and, three or four
times, in Kerry. In Scotland, says Mr. Gray, it has occurred
in almost every county from Wigtownshire to Shetland, but
he has not heard of its appearance in any of the Outer
Hebrides. Its visits to the British Islands usually take
place between the middle of June and the end of August,
hut it has several times been noticed so early as May—once
even (Nat. 1853, p. 156) on the 3d of that month f, and so
late as October (Zool. p. 5320), while an example is said
(Zool. p. 5203) to have lingered to December 20th. Eminently
gregarious as this bird is known to he where it is
abundant, it has been seldom seen in this country accompanied
by any of its own species, and when it visits us it has
to forego its social habits or to indulge them by joining a
flock of common Starlings. Specimens taken here are quite
* Those in which no record of its ap p earance has been found a re Berks,
Gloucester, Hereford, Warwick, H u n ts , N o rthampton, R u tla n d , Leicester, S ta fford,
Cheshire an d Westmoreland, b u t its recognition in th ese counties sooner
o r la te r is doubtless to be expected.
f There is a record (Zool. p. 2598), h a rd ly to be deemed satisfactory, of its
occurrence in Oxfordshire in Feb ru a ry , 1838. I f th e re b e no e rro r th e example
may have been one th a t h ad w in te red in th is p a r t of th e world.
as often in full plumage as not, and considering the early
time at which some of them so frequently arrive it may he
concluded that they have strayed from their comrades while
seeking a breeding-place and, overshooting their mark, have
continued that north-westerly course which seems natural
to them in the spring of the year *. Many of the examples
obtained in the British Islands have been observed feeding
on cherries or other fruits, but as with the rest of its family
insects, and especially locusts and grasshoppers, form its
chief sustenance. In a general way, and with certain important
peculiarities to he presently noticed, it greatly resembles
our Starling in habits, but Saxby remarks that the actions of
a young bird, which he watched for some three hours among
a flock of Starlings, differed slightly from those of its associates.
It did not instinctively follow all their motions in
flight—as indeed may have been natural in a stranger—and
seemed to procure its food on the surface, in a careless way,
without boring the ground for it as they did. It ran with
greater speed, carrying its body more horizontally, and often
stood on a stone or other elevation. Its note was a little
like a Starling’s hut less harsh.
Long known as this bird has been I, little until of late
years was ascertained of its mode of propagation. It had
been supposed to breed occasionally in Italy, Switzerland
and Germany, but with respect to the first of these the
evidence is admittedly imperfect, and in regard to the two
last Dr. Stolker maintains (Bericht u.s.w. St. Gall, naturw.
Gesellsch. 1874-75, pp. 283, 284) that such as he was able
to cite is worthless. He however omits mention of three
instances recorded by Lord Lilford (Zool. p. 2968), who was
in 1850 shewn, by Dr. Linder of Geneva, eggs said to have
* Mr. Gray, on th e a u th o rity of Mr. J o h n Wilson, says th a t in 1840 th e b ird
a ttem p ted to b re ed n e a r M eth lick in Aberdeenshire, b u t stro n g e r evidence is
needed for th e acceptance of th e statem en t.
t I t seems to h ave been first described an d figured by Aldrovandi, who,
although th e b ird c a tch ers of his co u n try called i t a Sea-Starling, th o u g h t i t was
ra th e r a T h ru sh , a n d so o th e r w rite rs, chiefly relying on th e shape of its bill,
considered i t to be. Scopoli ap p ea rs to h ave been th e first n a tu ra lis t who
referred i t to th e Sta rlin g s, an d th e re can be no d oubt he was rig h t.