Litho. W. Orer#, Berlin.
S T A R L IN G .
Sturnus vulgaris, Zinn. Winter.
STAELING.
STURNUS VULGARIS, Linn.
Sturnus vulgaris, Linn. S. N. i. p. 290 (1766); Naum. ii.
p. 187; Hewitson, i. p. 216; Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 228;
Dresser, iv. p. 405.
Sturnus guttatus, Macg. i. p. 595.
UEtourneau vulgaire, French; Staar, German; Estornino,
Spanish.
This deservedly favourite bird is so common in almost
all parts of our country and many of our towns, and
affords such constant opportunities for the observation
of its ways and habits, that it would be superfluous to
recapitulate details concerning them to those of my
readers who keep their eyes open. I will only say that
personally I love this bird beyond most, and consider
him as a true friend to man from the enormous amount
of noxious insects that he devours in all stages of their
existence—aerial, arboreal, terrestrial, and subterranean.
The only accusations that can be urged against the
Starling with truth are those of a certain amount of
fruit-pilfering and the destruction of thatching, and
these delinquencies are most amply compensated by the