(j My Ala In bar Myiiahs. 



every unoccupied barrel or log in ihc a\iary, not less than 

 lol't. high was entered and examined, and all their energy 

 seemed to be so spent. in no rase did they look upon a 

 barrel liaving a perch fixed at the entrance hole, bui 1 saw 

 thern carry nesting material into each barrel, which Siarlin.g- 

 intelligence declared to be suitable for a domicile. What 

 feverish, excitement tlie birds displayed while this was going 

 on! What an amount of noisy for and against! What an 

 amount of loud, clamouring scolding went on iii the course 

 of the day! It was when the latter ceased that 1 always 

 suspected serious business had been begun. It was in early 

 June that I received the first palpable evidence that sd'ious 

 eflort had been made, which consisted of picking up three 

 callow-young, several days old, under the bushes (neither 

 voidings from the nest nor dead nestlings are simply dropped 

 out, they are always carried some distance from ihe nest 

 receptacle and only dropped when the foliage obscures them 

 from view). They had been fed— not a very encouraging be- 

 gjnnmg I 



At the end of July this oxjierienc^ was 'epeated, save 

 that the young birds were over a week old and beginning to 

 feather, yet in neither case was I actually aware whiclr barrel 

 was Starling Castle, 



At the beginning of August I noticed that the cock bird 

 was always perched like a sentry on a barrel, i ift. up, hang- 

 ing against one of the aviary internal standards, and a little 

 later I saw him taking food into it, evidently feeding his 

 partner on the nest. But still 1 often went into the aviary 

 and saw both of them fooling about, and did not expect any 



. result, therefore it was with great surprise that a little 

 later I heard the "hissing-call" of callow-young. Gradu- 

 ally the hissing ceased and gave place to a louil querulous 

 chattering call, and 1 knew all was going well. Thus three 

 weeks riin their course and then came a week of compara- 

 tive silence, a silence which always precedes failure or final 

 success. In this case the '" Fates " were favourable and exactly 

 twenty-four --lays after I first heard the "hissing call ' two 

 fine young birds left the nest, and are only just (September 

 i6th) independent. 



