1
Sturnus vulgaris.
Linnai Syst. Nat. 290.
The Starling, or Stare.
Plate I.
The starling in shape resembles the common blackbird, but is inferior in size. The bill is compressed, broad at the tip; in the cock of a pale yellow, in the hen dusky; the irids of the eyes are brown, paler on the upper side.
The head, neck, back, throat, breast, and belly, are black, with a gloss of purple, varying into green, very bright and glistering.
The feathers are narrow and pointed, and those on the neck, back, rump, and on the thighs, in the male bird, are tipped with a brownish colour at their extreme points. In the female these spots are paler, larger, and more numerous, being extended over the whole head, neck, breast, and belly.
The first quill feathers of the wing are of a dusky black, with narrow borders of a pale brown, the second quills are of the same colour, with a shade of a darker hue near the tip, the covert feathers glister with green, and those next the shoulder of the wing are some of them pointed with brown, the tail is shorter than that of the blackbird, a little forked, and of a dusky black; the feathers have narrow borders of a pale brown, the legs and feet are of a yellowish flesh colour; the claws horn colour, with black tips.
Their food is worms, beetles, and various kinds of berries, and in this part of the kingdom they seem to be particularly fond of those of the [1]berry-bearing-heath, crowberries, of which I have given a figure, with its fruit, at the bottom of the plate.
- ↑ Empetrum nigrum.
