A TAME STARLING.
A very charming account of the taming of a young starling, that has since become a "friend and a brother," is sent by a correspondent who suggests that the starling is among the more tractable birds. It seems. to me that the birds with a capacity for mimicry are apt to be the fondest of cons- panionship with man or other sorts of animal. Now the tribe of starling contains mimics that excel even the parrots. There is, I think, no doubt that the Nepaulese Minah, which is a sort of starling, is the very best talker among birds, and it has a peculiar fondness for its gaolers. Nevertheless, the starling in Britain—perhaps because it is essentially gregarious—is not nearly so easy a bird to tame as, say, any member of the crow tribe. Most of them if caught young (as Dr. Johnson said of the Scotsman) will become friendly with men, dogs, horses, rabbits or even cats. Rooks are quite as tameable as jackdaws or magpies.
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