ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 189 



hatched birds, and could not, I think, have been properly fed. As 

 soon as the young birds appeared, I found that the parent birds did 

 not take their ordinary food, which consisted of meal and bread 

 paste with bruised hemp-seed, and table scraps generally, and I com- 

 menced to search for beetles, larvae, etc., which very soon proved to 

 be the food they required. At first they would not take worms, 

 but when the young birds got larger and their feathers began to 

 show, they seemed to overcome their objection to them, though 

 they never seemed eager for them. They invariably pulled the 

 worms to pieces after killing them. It will be noticed that the last 

 egg was laid on the 25th April, and the last bird was hatched on 

 the night of the i3th May, which shows that the period of incuba- 

 tion is eighteen days. The two remaining birds are now nineteen 

 days old, and seem strong and well. RICHARD TOMLINSON, Mussel- 

 burgh. 



Habits of Starlings. Early this spring, while building their nest, 

 one, or a pair of Starlings (Stitrnus vulgar is) was observed to con- 

 tinually pick off the young leaves of a chrysanthemum : the bird, or 

 birds, only attacked this one plant in the bed. The leaves were 

 carried up to the nest. The other evening a Starling, building in 

 another part of the house, was seen to drop something, which, on 

 being picked up, was found to be a young lettuce, and, on visiting 

 the bed where these were planted, a whole row was found to have 

 been taken up. This seems to be a new departure on the part of 

 this species. T. E. BUCKLEY, Inverness. 



Nesting- of the Chiff-chaff in Upper "Forth." Authentic 

 Scottish nests of the Chiff-chaff (Phylloscopus n/fus) have been so 

 seldom recorded, that the following statements regarding one I found 

 this year (1896) in Stirlingshire may not be considered unworthy a 

 place in this journal. 



On the i yth of April I heard the notes of a Chiff-chaff in a 

 plantation of young Scotch firs and spruces, among which are 

 scattered a few oaks, etc., of older growth, at Duchray, about three 

 miles above Aberfoyle. On the 22nd there were two if not three 

 singing, and by the end of the month it seemed evident that two 

 pairs had settled down for the summer. Being very desirous to 

 find a nest of the species within the " Forth " area, I spent many 

 hours watching the birds in the hope of detecting them in the act of 

 building ; but, though I scattered feathers for their use within view 

 of where I lay, I had to leave the district on gth May without a 

 clue, beyond fixing the limits of the " beats " of the males, and 

 getting an occasional glimpse of the females. It was the 2oth of 

 May before I could return. On that day, after watching for 

 several hours, I commenced a search in a likely spot an open 

 heathery place studded with small spruces between two of the 

 older trees which constituted the " beat " of one of the males, and 



