The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-15
BIRD IMMIGRANTS.

grants in this country is undoubtedly
 the house sparrow, otherwise known as
 the English sparrow, but as I intend at
 an early date to devote a whole article
 to this all-conquering, unconquerable
 bunch of feathers, I will confine myself
 at present to two more beautiful if less
 numerous representatives of the old
 world species.
 | I first made the acquaintance of these
 birds, the starling and the European goldfinch, years ago, in their native
 land. The starling is, I think, the first
 wild bird of whose habits I have any
 clear recollection. I lived, when very
 small boy, in an old country house i'll
 the north of England, and I remember being awakened one glorious March morning by perfect babel of bird l voices, which resembled in some ways, | the noise produced by a flock of mi
 grant grackles. I was out of bed in
 wink, and saw through the diamond panes of my window great number of dark -colored birds of somewhat crow like form, flying about in the old trees, alighting on the caves and walking
 briskly about on the stone pavement Of the yard below, all talking necessarily
 in the noisiest manner.
 That spring I had an opportunity to
 observe their nesting habits, for num-
 Der of them built in openings at the
 edges of the roof, and in holes in the
 trees near the house.
 The starling is a compactly built bird
 between eight and nine inches long,
 with strong bill and a rather short
 tail His plumage, which is hard and
 firm to the touch, is of natalie pur-
 pie or green color In summer the feathers of the upper parts and sides are all tipped with buff, the wings and tail are dark brownish grey edged with buff and the bill is yellow. In winter the buff spots on the upper parts are much larger and rather darker the un- der parts are heavily spotted with white and the bill is dark brown.
 Starlings do not hop; they walk like crows and grackles, and with an air rather suggestive of vanity. They are very handsome birds, musical whistlers and in confinement have been trained to talk
 They have been introduced in Ameri- ca several times. but never held their own until Mir Eugene Schieffelin, in 1890 released flock of about sixty birds in Central Park, New York city. A year or two later some of them were found nesting in the roof of the Muse um of Natural History, where they still continue to nest I believe. Their range is no longer limited to New York city, however, nor even to New York state, for they have already worked their way well up into New England and proba- bly in other directions as well. Two years ago a gentleman in Stamford, Conn, informed me that pair of birds 1 such as he had never seen before were nesting in q hole in an apple-tree in his garden. I visited the garden and as Cended the tree. 1 had scarcely reached | the nest hole, which was in a hollow | branch about twenty-f five feet from the ! ground, when a familiar but half-sup- i ratt1ing call attracted my at | tention, and l looked up to see a | speckled bird perched upon the branch | es above me, her bill full of earth | worms, and scolding as hard as her well , engaged mouth would permit. It was | with great gladness that I recognized l her as the staring, the old friend of my | boyhood, and I descended at once and | gave her a chance to feed her little ! ones.
 The starling usually lays from four to seven bluish or greenish- gray eggs, in q nest composed of such materials as ] wigs, leaves, grass and feathers, gene rally built in hollow tree or a crevice in a building. The natural food of the bird consists of insects, worms, grubs and grasshoppers; in captivity it will eat almost everything. including raw meat cheese and dry bread. It is the sole represents in America of a arge family numbering about two hun fred species. In England starlngs are migratory. In this country they are 'esident throughout the year.
 The European goldfish is another lit- l .le immigrant who is holding his own l )n this side of the water and his many rood qualities justify us in hoping that le will soon have a much greater range han he has at present. This bird was introduced into the country at Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1878, and the next year le was to be seen in Central Park, New York, where he may now be found at Ill times of the year He is gradually working his way into the country round bout.
 This species was also introduced in Boston some years ago, and he is now requently seen about the suburbs in ] mall f1ocks, sometimes in company with American goldfinches, which he really resembles in habits.
 The European goldfnch is a bird l bout five and q half inches long, or | lightly larger than his American cous- n. Like all finches he has a stout con- gal bill for crushing the hard shells of eeds. Around the base of the bill the lumage is bright red; the crown of the cad is black and there is black tripe extending from the crown down n to the sides of the neck. The back , brown, and the wings black, crossed II