BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 247 



freely used, and so are suitable nesting-boxes put up for 

 the purpose. In some bleak regions, where trees and 

 buildings are alike scarce, the nest may be found in a 

 crevice among stones or in a peat-stack, or may be placed 

 in a rabbit-burrow. 



The nest itself is a large, untidy mass of dry grass, with 

 or without a slight lining of moss or wool, and usually 

 containing a few feathers. The eggs are four or five or more 

 in number, and in colour are of a characteristic uniform 

 blue of a very pale and delicate tint. The Starling seems 

 particularly prone to deposit single eggs in unexpected 

 places. It is quite a common occurrence to find an egg 

 lying on the gromid unbroken and not near any nest. 

 Like other species nesting on human habitations, the 

 Starling is sometimes recorded as laying at unseasonable 

 times of the year. 



After the nesting season is over, Starlings band 

 together in bodies varying from parties of half-a-dozen to 

 enormous flocks of many thousands of individuals. Among 

 these larger bodies some astonishing aerial manoeuvres 

 may sometimes be witnessed. The birds appear to have 

 regular roosting-places and lines of flight — points deserv- 

 ing farther study. Over such a roosting-place a huge 

 cloud of birds may of an evening be seen wheeling and 

 circling at a great height, only to drop together, suddenly 

 and quickly, to their chosen perches. 



Much attention is rarely bestowed on the Starling, but 

 it certainly repays observation. Looking at the birds from 

 below as they fly to their nests or perches, they appear 

 to possess a, dark and sober plumage. But seen on the 

 ground with a strong light on their upper-parts, the 

 adults display a great variety of colom\ This is almost 

 entirely non-pigmentary, but is an optical effect of the 

 plumage structure. This gives constantly varying hues 



