BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 245 



nester, chiefly coastal. From the east of Great Britain 

 the Chough has vanished. On the south-west of England 

 it is still found in small numbers (' Cornish Chough ' it 

 is often called), and sparingly along the west of Great 

 Britain, including the Isle of Man, to the Inner Hebrides. 

 In Wales it has some inland haunts, as it has also in 

 Ireland. It is also sparingly distributed round the Irish 

 coast, except on the east. 



The nest is placed in some fissure in a cliff, bank, 

 or ruin — often in a cave. The three to five eggs are 

 gi-ayish or greenish white, spotted and streaked with 

 grays and browns. 



Family, STURNID^ (Starlings). 



THE STARLING 



(Sturnus vulgaris). 



Plate 78. 



The appearance and habits of the Starling hardly 

 require description, so abundant and noticeable a bird is 

 it in practically eveiy part of the British Isles. And yet 

 only half a century ago the Starling was scarce and local 

 over the gi-eater part of the country, and it nowhere 

 approached its present commonness unless in the southern 

 and eastern parts of England. As an abundant resident 

 species in Wales and in the west and north of England, 

 it has been known only within the period mentioned. 

 The same is trae of the greater part of Ireland. In 

 Scotland its history has been even more remarkable. In 

 some localities, including many of the outlying islands, the 

 Starling has long been known as a breeding species. In 

 many wide intervening tracts, however, it was practically 



