The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-20
STARLINGS IN HARTFORD
(Hartford Courant.)

Courant readers with leaning to- wards ornithology who will look up at the towers of St. Joseph's Cathedral on Pennington avenue. about o'clock on any afternoon. will discover some thing of interest, apart from the beauty of the Gothic architecture Of the cathedral. At that time in the afternoon. considerable flock of lively rare in Hartford. may be seen winging its way in straight-away flight from tower to tower. In West Hartford. too. these birds fill the air, just now. hundreds to the flock The starling has a great affinity for church towers. and for that reason is very plentiful on the New Haven Green and in West Haven. St. Joseph's s Cathedral is a. good vantage ground for close observation of the bird be- cause it's towers present especially warm shelter in cold weather. and thus attract the starlings in great numbers.
 This species. although not much larger than the sparrow-in fact it's Latin name, sturnus vulgaris linnaeus, seems too much of burden for it's small body-is easily distinguishable from the sparrow. even by the casual observer. In the first place. its flight is straight-away. and is accompanied with much Tapping of wings. whereas the sparrow cleaves the air. with an
 
 wing. In the second place. 1t fs all most as black as the blackbird. with metallic gloss to it's coat. and sends from it's throat whfstfing chatter the sparrow. The feathers of the starling are whitish at the tips. and hence on clear day it seems . model bird. Yesterday. however. was gray day. and grayishness clung like pail tightly about the cathedral towers. so ivdo ha a black.
 While the Courant reporter was ob- serving the flock of starlfngS. as they darted from tower to tower across Myrton T. Smith. president and treas urer of the Smith-LAnsley Company. who had very generously left work on busy afternoon to accompany the reporter to Pennington avenue to tionaI details regarding the bird. It's origin. he said. was in Western and Central Europe. In winters it is found south to Africa. while it's ap- pearance is accidental in Greenland. York city. where it is now very con- mon. Thence the starling spread as far as Springfield. Mass. Stonington. Conn.,. Ossinfng, N. r.. and Phfladel- phia It builds its nests in old houses. church towers. holes of trees ana
 
 own we'll. in the struggle for exist ence. Mr. Smith pointed out for ex- ample. that a starling will often dis cover hole drilled by a woodpecker and proceed to take possession. IF later he finds the woodpecker back in the home of It's own making the star ling instantly proceeds to drag the woodpecker out by the bill. and to re- sume possession of it's ill-gotten shel- ter by right of might.
 The English star1ing Is not tho only rare bird that has been seen in Hart ford and West Hartford this winter. One mockinE birl. which is naturally a southern bird and which is some- times seen in southern Connecticut, but rarely in this part of the State. was recently discerned in West Hart ford by club member. President E. F. St. John of the club has in addition lately seen in West Hartford large f1ocks of English crossbeaks. red. headed woodpockers. pine crossbeaks, grossbeaks. and horned larks. all true winter birds. and seldom seen here. MT. Smith has noted red polls in abun- dance too. Hartford would therefore. seem to be prolific field of bird re- search. at least for amateur ornithol- ogistS