“The starling is a magnificent bird almost as large as a blackbird, brilliant with glints of metallic luster on a dark background. Its color is black with greenish sheen on head and wings and violet on breast and back. Most of the feathers are adorned with a reddish-white spot at the very end. It nests under the roofs of buildings, in dove-cotes, and in hollow tree trunks. The nest, composed on the outside of straw, and within of dry grasses and feathers, contains four spotless whitish eggs. Starlings come to us in the autumn. They fly in large flocks, whirling about like grain winnowed in a sieve and sending forth piercing cries from high up in the air. They alight in marshes and damp meadows, where they destroy much vermin.” CHAPTER XXXII INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS “Now let us go back to the principal slender-beaked birds, eaters of insects only and consequently our greatest helpers. They are all small in size, delicately and gracefully formed, and modest in dress. Among them we find the sweet singers that make the woods echo in spring with the refreshing songs of the opening season. “First there is the nightingale, clothed all in brown except the under parts, which are whitish in color. Listen to it some calm evening in May. All is quiet, so we need not lose a note of the bird’s hymn. It begins with a few timid and tentative phrases, thus: Teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, Shpe, teoo-oo, tokooa. Then it becomes more animated: Teo, teo, teo, teo, teo, Koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, Tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, Tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee. Here the phrasing becomes more marked, the melody quicker: Dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, Koo-e-oo, trrrrrrritz! Lu-lu-lu, le-le-le-le, lee-lee-lee-lee. Enthusiasm then bursts all bounds and the bird indulges in the most brilliant roulades; but our harsh alphabet is powerless to show the sounds that come from this wonderful throat.