March 6, 1890: Eugene Schieffelin Releases 80 Starlings in Central Park, by Holly J. Hughes

I�ll have a starling shall be taught
To speak nothing but "Mortimer" and give it him
To keep his anger still in motion.
Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1

Snow has shaken loose all morning,
nesting in the crotch of the ailanthus,
streaking the black trunks of the locust.

Upstate, currant farmers worry about the freeze.
In the city, fathers hitch horses to sleighs.
He hugs