Humor - John Martin's 10 THINGS

... Common starlings

Common starlings are native to Europe and Asia. They were released around Melbourne in the 1850s and quickly spread throughout eastern Australia.
American Shakespeare buff extraordinaire Eugene Schieffelin decided to introduce all the birds mentioned by the Bard into the US. In 1890 he released 100 starlings in Central Park, New York. Today they range from Alaska to Mexico.
In 1949, starlings brought time to a standstill in London and incurred the wrath of parliament when they roosted on the hands of Big Ben and stopped the famous clock.
Starlings often nest in the bases of satellite-receiving dishes. It seems such warm locations shorten incubation enabling more broods to be produced during a season.
In Europe, however, starlings are flavour-of-the-month. In Spain fields are planted with cane to provide havens for migrating starlings. The roosting birds are netted and sold to restaurants.
In a shop at Marseilles Airport I saw cans labelled "Pâté de sansonette". According to my high-school French, that translates as common starling pâté. No, I didn’t try any.
The four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, mentioned in the nursery rhyme, are now thought to have been common starlings.
It’s said that holes were left deliberately for starlings in the mortar and tenon joints of Stonehenge, the birds having religious (gastronomical?) significance to those who erected the monument.
In Greek and Roman times starlings were kept as cage birds on account of their ability to mimic speech.
The starling’s song, although not melodious, is very complex. Motifs from a captive bird were evidently used as a theme in a score by the composer Mozart.

October 25, 2006
©John Layton. All Rights Reserved

WANT TO READ MORE '10 THINGS'? CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVE BY CLICKING HERE

NB: I called this site Dunno because I kept drawing a blank when I had to put a name to it

Common starlings are native to Europe and Asia. They were released around Melbourne in the 1850s and quickly spread throughout eastern Australia.

American Shakespeare buff extraordinaire Eugene Schieffelin decided to introduce all the birds mentioned by the Bard into the US. In 1890 he released 100 starlings in Central Park, New York. Today they range from Alaska to Mexico.

In 1949, starlings brought time to a standstill in London and incurred the wrath of parliament when they roosted on the hands of Big Ben and stopped the famous clock.

Starlings often nest in the bases of satellite-receiving dishes. It seems such warm locations shorten incubation enabling more broods to be produced during a season.

In Europe, however, starlings are flavour-of-the-month. In Spain fields are planted with cane to provide havens for migrating starlings. The roosting birds are netted and sold to restaurants.

In a shop at Marseilles Airport I saw cans labelled "Pâté de sansonette". According to my high-school French, that translates as common starling pâté. No, I didn’t try any.

The four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, mentioned in the nursery rhyme, are now thought to have been common starlings.

It’s said that holes were left deliberately for starlings in the mortar and tenon joints of Stonehenge, the birds having religious (gastronomical?) significance to those who erected the monument.

In Greek and Roman times starlings were kept as cage birds on account of their ability to mimic speech.

The starling’s song, although not melodious, is very complex. Motifs from a captive bird were evidently used as a theme in a score by the composer Mozart.

October 25, 2006 ©John Layton. All Rights Reserved

WANT TO READ MORE '10 THINGS'? CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVE BY CLICKING HERE

October 25, 2006
©John Layton. All Rights Reserved