On the 4th of June, 1787, the household of the legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was in mourning.

Said starling did not just wander at random into the Mozart family garden - he purchased it, and made a musical entry into his expense book, said to imitate the song of the starling. This is by no means as fanciful as it sounds, though perhaps he got it the wrong way round - starlings are excellent mimics.

We have a thorough, if not quite eye-witness account of the bird's funeral, given by Mozart's wife Constanze's second husband - there was a veiled procession, and something not far removed from a requiem mass complete with singing.

As a rather poignant postscript to this, later on, Mozart adopted another pet bird, a canary, but during his last illness had to ask that it was removed from his proximity as he could not tolerate the singing.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org