pale blue, in some specimens slightly tinged with green, but
generally varying only in shade, their thin and semitransparent
shell giving them when fresh an opalescence of
surpassing beauty, which vanishes so soon as the contents
are emptied. They measure from l -26 to l -08 by from '88
to -81 in. Some Starlings begin to breed the first week in
April, while others hardly set about their nests till late in
May*—a fact which has led many people to suppose that
the same pair has two or more broods in the year, for
occasionally the same hole may be tenanted twice in the
season—but such an occurrence seems to be very rare in
this country.! The hen sits so closely that she may be often
caught on the nest, and the cock assists her by bringing her
food. The eggs are hatched in about sixteen! days, and
both old birds assiduously nurse the young till they can
fly. Loud are the cries of both parents and offspring at
feeding-time. The former uttering, mostly when there is
cause for alarm, a sharp and angry “ spate , “ spate , while
the greeting of the latter sounds like “ square , “ square .
By the end of a fortnight the nestlings are fully fledged,
and are then led abroad to find their own living in the
nearest pastures, wandering by degrees further and further
away; but, for some weeks, the family continues in company,
and all its members return at nightfall to roost as close to
their home as circumstances permit.
When the young towards midsummer have attained their
full strength, the various families begin to take yet wider
beats in search of food, and, falling in with others on the
same quest, gather in small companies, to which accessions^
are constantly being made, until considerable bands are
formed. These range over the whole country at times
affecting grassy downs or uplands, at times the fallows, oi,
again, the lower and moister meadows, according as insects
* In stan c e s a re recorded of th e S ta rlin g bre ed in g i n a n tum n (Zool. p. 6328
a n d s.s. pp. 3313, 3 3 6 8 ): in sp rin g th e hen ’s h a b it of occasionally d ropping an
egg on th e grass m u st he k nown to m any people.
t Saxby speaks of it, however, as being th e ru le in Shetland.
- + On th is p o in t observers differ. Nauman n says fo u rteen days, H e rr H . C.
Miiller (in th e Faeroes) e ighteen.
are found to bo procurable—occasionally even crossing the
sea. In some localities the birds’ movements are conspicuously
constant, in others they are marked by the greatest
irregularity, and the supply of food alone can be assigned as
the cause of this diversity, which thus depends largely on
the variability of the season. On the produce of any district
being exhausted, the bands separate and rove in search
of new feeding-grounds, which being found, they collect as
before, or possibly even in greater numbers.- Thus it may
happen that certain parts of the country may on a sudden
be almost wholly deserted, as the Starlings collect in other
parts or even leave the island. This desultory kind of life
continues to the end of summer, and brings them into contact
with several very different kinds of birds having the
Same object in view—especially Books, Daws and Lapwings,
whom they accompany without any other bond of union than
self-interest,* and from whom during some hours of the day
they generally, and towards sunset they always, secede—resorting
to certain well-known places, perhaps at the distance
of many miles, to roost. As evening approaches they may
be seen high in air, flying steadily towards these points, and
night after night, and year after year at the same season,
the same station is thus occupied, the different bands
commonly collecting, as the afternoon advances, on the tops
of tall trees, where they sit and chatter tumultuously for a
longer or shorter time, preparatory to their final departure
for their night-quarters. These Starling-roosts, as varied m
character as in magnitude, have excited the wonder of many
observers, from Sir Thomas Browne’s days to our own, and
exist in many places throughout the kingdom. Beed-beds
are especially a favourite resort, and where reeds form a
valuable property and are regularly harvested, the serious
nature of the damage often done by Starlings is not tor a
moment to be disputed, for the stems are borne own,
broken and crushed by the mere weight of the birds that
* Some observers have th o u g h t th a t Starlings a c t as p ilo ts to th e ir la rg e r companions,
oth e rs th a t th e y a re only followers ; h u t th e fa c t seems to he as sta ted
above—th e association b e ing merely fo rtu ito u s.