[Illustration]
Sturnus vulgaris, LINNÆUS; L'Etourneau, BUFFON; Der gemeine
Staar, BECHSTEIN.
The length of this bird is eight inches and a half, two and a half of
which belong to the tail, and one to the beak, which is awl-shaped,
angular, flattish, and rather blunt, yellow, brown towards the end, and
the tip blue. The iris is nut-brown; the claws an inch long, are deep
flesh-coloured. All the plumage is of a blackish hue, changing to purple
towards the front of the body, and to green towards the hind part, and
on the wing-coverts. The old males are darker, having no white tips to
the feathers of the head, cheeks, throat, or belly.
The beak of the female is rather brown than yellow; the light spots on
the head, neck, and breast, are larger, and the edge of the feathers is
wider, which gives it a lighter and more speckled appearance.
The starling, like all other species, has its varieties: such are the
white, the streaked or variegated, the white-headed, that whose body is
white with a black head, and the ash gray.
HABITATION.--When wild the starling is found all over the old world.
It prefers forests and little thickets, surrounded by fields and
meadows; it is often seen, especially in spring, on towers, steeples,
and churches; but it is never found either in high mountains or
ridges. In our climate, it departs, in October, in great flights for
the south, and returns in like manner in the beginning of March.
During the journey, these birds pass the night among the rushes,
where, on the least alarm, they make a great tumult.
In confinement it would be very amusing to let them run free; but let
them be ever so neat themselves, they would render the room dirty.
When caged, they must be furnished with a cage at least two feet
long, and one and a half both in height and width. Very restless and
always in motion, they require sufficient space to take exercise and
keep their plumage uninjured.
FOOD.--When wild they eat not only caterpillars, snails, worms,
insects, and the flies which torment the cattle in the field; but
also cherries, grapes, berries of all sorts, and different sorts of
grain, as millet and hemp seed.
In confinement they eat meat, worms, bread, cheese, the universal
paste, indeed, any food, provided it is not sour. When first caught,
they are supplied with earth and meal-worms, and they soon become as
tame as if they had been brought up from the nest; but, as there is
no rule without exceptions, we sometimes meet with individuals which
obstinately refuse to eat, whatever pains may be taken to induce
them, and which die of hunger. This bird delights in bathing often,
it must therefore never be left without fresh water in a proper
vessel.
BREEDING.--The starling builds in the holes of trees, and even in
boxes, or pots with long necks, suspended to trees, or under the
roof, or in pigeon-houses. Its simple nest is composed of dry leaves,
hay, and feathers. Like the swallow it returns to the same nest every
year, only taking care to clean it out. It lays twice in the year,
seven eggs each time, whose colour is ashy green. The young, before
moulting, are of rather a yellowish soot colour, than pure black. The
beak is dark brown; those which are bred from the nest, and which are
easily reared on white bread soaked in milk, repeat the airs they are
taught in a stronger and more distinct manner than bullfinches and
linnets. They can, indeed, repeat a succession of couplets without
changing or mixing them. In Voigtlande, the peasants use the starling
like domestic pigeons; they eat the young, which they take before
they can fly; by this means they obtain three broods, but they do not
touch the last, both in order not to discourage and drive away the
father and mother, and not to diminish this branch of economy.
Starlings have been seen to build in dwelling-houses, in an earthen
vase with a long neck, appropriated to the purpose[64].
DISEASES.--I know none peculiar to them. These birds will live ten or
twelve years in confinement.
MODE OF TAKING.--It is principally in autumn, and in places filled
with reeds, that the bird-catchers take great numbers of starlings in
nets prepared for the purpose. They may also be procured by means of
an osier fish-net, placed among the reeds, which they frequent in the
evening, and baited with cherries. Though this means is limited, as
many as a hundred have been procured by it in one night.
In Thuringia it is never attempted to catch them for the house except
in the month of March, when snow falls after their arrival. For this
purpose limed twigs are put in places cleared from snow, and beside
swampy ditches, with some earth-worms for a snare, into which they
fall as easily as chickens.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The starling becomes wonderfully familiar in
the house; as docile and cunning as a dog, he is always gay, wakeful,
soon knows all the inhabitants of the house, remarks their motions
and air, and adapts himself to their humours. In his solemn tottering
step, he appears to go stupidly forward; but nothing escapes his eye.
He learns to pronounce words without having his tongue cut, which
proves the uselessness of this cruel operation. He repeats correctly
the airs which are taught him, as does also the female, imitates the
cries of men and animals, and the songs of all the birds in the room
with him. It must be owned that his acquirements are very uncertain:
he forgets as fast as he learns, or he mixes up the old and new in
utter confusion; therefore, if it is wished to teach him an air, or
to pronounce some words clearly and distinctly, it is absolutely
necessary to separate him from other birds and animals, in a room
where he can hear nothing. Not only are the young susceptible of
these instructions, the oldest even show the most astonishing
docility.