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Range (Europe and northern Asia)

Europe and northern Asia; accidental in Greenland; introduced in New York city.

Nest, of grasses, twigs, etc., in a crevice in a building or hollow tree. Eggs, four to six, pale bluish, 1.20 x 86.

This Old-World species has been introduced in eastern North America on several occasions, but only the last importation appears to have been successful. The birds included in this lot, about sixty in number, were released in Central Park, New York city, in 1890, under the direction of Mr. Eugene Schieffelin. They seem to have left the park and have established themselves in various favorable places in the upper part of the city. They have bred for three successive years in the roof of the Museum of Natural History and at other points in the vicinity. In the suburbs about the northern end of the city they are frequently observed in flocks containing as many as fifty individuals. These birds are resident throughout the year, and, as they have already endured our most severe winters, we may doubtless regard the species as thoroughly naturalized. Starlings are walkers, not hoppers, and this fact, in connection with the spotted plumage and yellow bill of the adults, makes their identification an easy matter. BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.