The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-07-27
MAKES OUTLAW OF STARTLING
UNCLE SAM PUTS SEAL OF CON-
DOMINATION ON ENGLISH BIRD.
Few Species Brought to This Coun-
try Have Multiplied. Fear They
VIII become Menace to Crons

AAsO NAnAClPLicu. rear They
Will Become Menace to Crops.
WASHINGTON. D. C.-The United
States department of agriculture mas
outlawed the sentimentalist's own
bird, the startling. A few specimens,
imported several years ago, and do
mesticated in Central Park, New
York city, have multiplied, and their
progeny are moving steadily west
ward.
1t is thought that if they become
numerous in the grain states they
will prove a menace to crops. So
everybody is asked to turn his hand
against the starting.
The treasury department has is
sued orders to the customs inspect
ors, it is said, that no more OF the
birds, in spite of their poetical name
and beauty of form and plumage,
shall be allowed to enter the ports
of the United States. While the star
ling is beloved in its own country it
| has been outlawed in several coun-
tries to which it has been taken,
notably in New Zealand and Austria
liza.
In England, it's native land, tho
starting is given a good character,
ON the ground that it's activity as an
insecticide makes it "a friend of the
agriculturist and grazier."
Bird pliers Eruit
In its home the officials say: "The
worst that can be said of it is that
1t occasionally pliers fruit, and as it
focks to roost in autumn and winter
among reed beds does considerable
damage by breaking down the stems"
In England the starting is every
where well known It's favorite hab-
itat is the tops of tall spruces near
the English farm houses, and par
ticularly it is to be found where
there are large families, for the bird
is very social fellow, loving not
only his own kind, but seeking the
neighborhood Of his human brothers.
When fully grown the starting is
eight and half inches long. It's
feathers are a metallic black with
beautiful iridescent green, steel-bIue
or purplish-violet shades, almost all
having pale buff or whitish tips. The
wings, which are short and much
rounded, and the tail are a duller
black than the back, and the ex-
posed parts are frosted or silvered
with velvety black-and- edgings.
The bill of the starting is very yell
low and the feet are reddish resem-
in Af H.
In winter the birds are not so lus-
trous.
The brilliant colors belong, as is
usual in bird life, to the male. The
female has a coat more variegated
with ochry or tawny brown The
bill of the female is also darker col
ored.
The birds are gregarious, often
moving in large flocks, and as the
sunlight strikes the flying crowds
their feathers flash and glitter like
copper Alfred Newton OF Cam
bridge University, in his Dictionary
OF Birds says: THE congregations
of the starlings are indeed marvellous
and no less than the aerial evolu-
tions OF the flocks, chiefly before set
thing for the night, have attracted
attention from early times, being
mentioned by Pliny.
The extraordinary precision with
which the flock, often numbering
several hundred, not to say thou
sands, of birds, wheels, closes, opens
out, rises and descends, as If the
whole body were a single living
thing-all these movements being ex-
ecuted without a note or a cry being
uttered-must be seen to be appre-
ciated, and may be seen repeatedly
with pleasure"
AS the birds settle upon the tall
trees they Immediately begin to con-
verse upon subjects which appear to
be of vital Importance, for they all
talk at once and chatter necessarily
for hours. If there are no spruces
at hand for their nesting the birds
seek an old building, a hole in con-
venient wall or a Granny in a rock.
English boys often capture the
young, and having made tiny slit
in their tongues. teach them to whis-
tie and talk much as a parrot is
taught.