Mozart was so delighted by the starling he almost forgot his shock. He and the bird whistled phrases back and forth, sharing snippets of their repertoires. Then Mozart pulled out his pocket notebook and copied out the bird’s species name, Vogel Stahrl, a version of the German name for the bird referred to as the European starling in North America and the common starling in England.* One commentator claims that Mozart named his bird Star, a misreading of his note that simply referred to the species. Even so, it is handy to employ a moniker in telling a story, and as there is no record of the
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