(J02 STURNUS GUTTATUS. 



tain that the bitter taste which they attribute to the Starling's 

 flesh resides in the blood, and that this affords the true reason 

 for the decapitation practised. For my own part I never could 

 perceive any difference between the flesh of a Starling merely 

 shot, and that of another both shot and beheaded ; and all that 

 I can state on the subject is that both are very good, and not 

 at all inferior to the flesh of the wild pigeon. 



In the Hebrides the Starlings begin to form their nests in 

 the end of April or the beginning of May, selecting suitable 

 spots in the crevices of rocks, in caverns, or under large blocks, 

 in situations as inaccessible as possible. I have found them 

 also in large w^inding holes in grassy banks on an unfrequented 

 islet, which I conjectured to have been originally formed by 

 rats, and afterwards enlarged by the Starlings. It appears how- 

 ever that they also dig holes of themselves on the grassy shelves 

 of the rocks. The nest is bulky, composed of grass and por- 

 tions of plants of various species, with a rude lining of feathers 

 and hair. The eggs, which are from four to six, are of a some- 

 what elongated or regular oval form, glossy, and of a delicate 

 very pale greenish-blue. They vary in length from an inch 

 and a quarter to an inch and two twelfths or a little less, and 

 in their greatest breadth from three fourths to ten twelfths of 

 an inch. 



These birds occur in many other parts of Scotland, but are 

 generally rare in the middle and southern divisions, where 

 their colonies breed in maritime rocks, in old buildings, and 

 sometimes in holes in decayed trees. In winter, they usually 

 scatter over the country, appearing in flocks of greater or less 

 extent in parts where they do not habitually reside. Thus far 

 I have confined my statements to my own observation ; but to 

 complete my account of the manners of this interesting bird, I 

 take the liberty of extracting from Mr. Stanley's Familiar 

 History of Birds a portion of a passage on this subject equal 

 in my opinion to the best biographical sketches of Wilson or 

 Audubon. 



" Not far from the church we have mentioned, there is a 

 considerable sheet of water, occupying nearly thirty acres ; 

 flanked and feathered, on the eastern side, by the old beech- 



