120 Pictures of Bird Life 



safer, than in the fields, where lar^e numbers of them 

 nest in lioles in trees. The Starhn^- lias a bad habit of 

 taking possession of the holes which tlie A^'^oodpeckers have 

 industriously hewn out for themselves in trees, and liave 

 also been known to oust the Swifts from their nesting- 

 holes in buildings {Zoo/o^isf, June, 1899). In either case the 

 theft is betrayed by the straws sticking untidily out of 

 the entrance, which tell the tale to e^'ery passer-by. The 

 young Starlings, too, in tlie nest have a peculiarly strong 

 and pungent odoin% which may be readily detected from 

 a short distance by anybody familiar with the birds. On 

 several occasions this smell, so well known, has called my 

 attention to the nest in places which I should have passed 

 unnoticed. The young in first plimiage congregate together 

 in small flocks, and as the suimner advances these flocks 

 join forces, till in autunm their numbers are prodigious. 

 In the Norfolk reed-beds the damage done by their 

 roosting in tlie reeds and breaking them down by their 

 combined weight necessitates the regular employment of 

 men to scare them off at tlie approach of evening. 



This first plumage is unspotted, and the young birds used 

 to be described and known as " Solitary Thrushes." AN^hy 

 Solitary it is difficult to imagine ; it is the most inajjpropriate 

 title that coidd possibly be given them. The Starling is not 

 liked by fruit-growers, as it is undoubtedly fond of cherries ; 

 but against this must be set the immense amount of good 

 it does all the remainder of the year in clearing the land 

 of noxious insects. The grubs of the Cockchafer and Crane- 



