File:The birds of Britain - their distribution and habits (1916) (14755389295).jpg

Identifier: birdsofbritainth00evan (find matches)
Title: The birds of Britain : their distribution and habits
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Evans, Arthur Humble, 1872-
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain
Publisher: Cambridge : University Press
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
t us between October and April, but a good manypairs are now known to breed at the tops of the loftiestScottish mountains. There the nest, of such substancesas can be procured, is placed deep among the bouldersof the screes, but in the north of Europe it is oftenmore exposed and almost at sea level. The fiveroundish white eggs are prettily marked with rust-colour, brown and lilac. The song is more melodiousthan in Buntings generally ; the flight is strong; thefood consists of insects in summer, while in winter thebirds frequent our sea-side dunes, fields, and stack-yards for the seeds and grain to be found there. Thecock is a beautiful white bird with black on the mantle,tail and wings, which becomes chestnut in autumn; heis whiter again in winter, but the hen and the young,are always much duller, the former being greyer withblackish head. Passeres 85 Family STURNID.^, or Starlings It is difficult to believe that the Starling (Stumusvulgaris), which is now so abundant from Shetland to
Text Appearing After Image:
Starling Cornwall, was hardly known north of the ScottishBorder at the beginning of last century. The increaseof late years has been enormous, and it is now no Hi) Order I uncommon thing to discover a winter roost of manythousands, which literally break down reeds, shrubs oreven small trees by their combined weight. Abroadour bird is sufficiently common throughout most ofEurope except the far north, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia,Corsica, Sicily, and the Faeroes; in Asia a formoccurs in Siberia and from Asia Minor to north India.The question of its range is complicated by the occur-rence of an unspotted species in south Europe. Thebuff markings on the black plumage mth its green andpurple sheen are only characteristic of the adult Starling,for the young are plain brown with duller yellow bill.In this state they are often seen in autumn flocking toour shores, where migrants also arrive from abroad ;but the birds are more familiar to us on our housesand in our woods, where they make a very u

Note About Images