Credit (or blame) the Bard for the much-admired, much despised starling

Of the 35,000 lines in Shakespeare's plays, only one mentions the diminutive, sinewy, and talented European starling. But that solitary reference led to a misguided attempt to import starlings for a Shakespeare festival in New York in the late 19th century. The birds evidently fell in love with the New World, and very definitely with each other.