Food.—When wild they eat not only caterpillars, snails, worms, insects, and the flies which torment the cattle in the field; but also cherries, grapes, berries of all sorts, and different sorts of grain, as millet and hemp seed.
In confinement they eat meat, worms, bread, cheese, the universal paste, indeed, any food, provided it is not sour. When first caught, they are supplied with earth and meal-worms, and they soon become as tame as if they had been brought up from the nest; but, as there is no rule without exceptions, we sometimes meet with individuals which obstinately refuse to eat, whatever pains may be taken to induce them, and which die of hunger. This bird delights in bathing often, it must therefore never be left without fresh water in a proper vessel.
Breeding.—The starling builds in the holes of trees, and even in boxes, or pots with long necks, suspended to trees, or under the roof, or in pigeon-houses. Its simple nest is composed of dry leaves, hay, and feathers. Like the swallow it returns to the same nest every year, only taking care to clean it out. It lays twice in the year, seven eggs each time, whose colour is ashy green. The young, before moulting, are of rather a yellowish soot colour, than pure black. The beak is dark brown; those which are bred from the nest, and which are easily reared on white bread soaked in milk, repeat the airs they are taught in a stronger and more distinct manner than bullfinches and linnets. They can, indeed, repeat a succession of couplets without changing or mixing them. In Voigtlande, the peasants use the starling like domestic pigeons; they eat the young, which they take before they can fly; by this means they obtain three broods, but they do not touch the last, both in order not to discourage and drive away the father and mother, and not to diminish this branch of economy.
Starlings have been seen to build in dwelling-houses, in an earthen vase with a long neck, appropriated to the purpose[64].
Diseases.—I know none peculiar to them. These birds will live ten or twelve years in confinement.
Mode of Taking.—It is principally in autumn, and in places filled with reeds, that the bird-catchers take great numbers of starlings in nets prepared for the purpose. They may also be procured by means of an osier fish-net, placed among the reeds, which they frequent in the evening, and baited with cherries. Though this means is limited, as many as a hundred have been procured by it in one night.
In Thuringia it is never attempted to catch them for the house except in the month of March, when snow falls after their arrival. For this purpose limed twigs are put in places cleared from snow, and beside swampy ditches, with some earth-worms for a snare, into which they fall as easily as chickens.
Attractive Qualities.—The starling becomes wonderfully familiar in the house; as docile and cunning as a dog, he is always gay, wakeful, soon knows all the inhabitants of the house, remarks their motions and air, and adapts himself to their humours. In his solemn tottering step, he appears to go stupidly forward; but nothing escapes his eye. He learns to pronounce words without having his tongue cut, which proves the uselessness of this cruel operation. He repeats correctly the airs which are taught him, as does also the female, imitates the cries of men and animals, and the songs of all the birds in the room with him. It must be owned that his acquirements are very uncertain: he forgets as fast as he learns, or he mixes up the old and new in utter confusion; therefore, if it is wished to teach him an air, or to pronounce some words clearly and distinctly, it is absolutely necessary to separate him from other birds and animals, in a room where he can hear nothing. Not only are the young susceptible of these instructions, the oldest even show the most astonishing docility.