( 337 ) 

 ARE STARLINGS DOUBLE OR SINGLE BROODED ? 



BY 



N. F. TICEHURST, M.A.,M.B.o.u. 



At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on 

 February 12th, 1913, Mr. R. H. Read related that in 1912 

 he had found second layings of Starlings' eggs in nests from 

 which a brood had been previously hatched out, and that 

 these were the first instances he had ever met with, of a second 

 brood in a Starling's nest. As reported in the Bulletin (p. 64), 

 no proof is given that these second-layings were the produce 

 of birds that had already reared broods, and in the discussion 

 that took place on this point it seems to have been the general 

 opinion that the second brood occasionally reared in a nest 

 \\'as the offspring of different parents. In support of tliis 

 Mr. Bidwell cited the experience of Mr. J. Whitaker at Rain- 

 ^^•orth, ^\'ho had put up ninety boxes for Starlings. " When 

 every box was occupied there ^^'ere sometimes two or three 

 pairs which used them after the first brood had flo^m. These 

 \\ere all birds which had not previously been able to find a 

 nesting place. Wlien the ninety boxes were not all used 

 there were never any late nests. If the Starling was double 

 brooded, many of these boxes would have been occupied a 

 second time. These observations Mere the result of nearly 

 forty years' experience." Now, it seems to me that the only 

 possible wAy of proving whether these later broods are the 

 offspring of parents that have or have not reared young 

 already, is by making a series of observations on ringed birds, 

 although Mr. Whitaker's facts show that at any rate in 

 Nottingham the large majority of Starlings are single brooded. 



The subject is an interesting one, and not unimportant, 

 and it is to be hoped that anyone who has any facts bearing 

 on the matter will make them public, so that a definite con- 

 clusion may be arrived at. 



Some years ago I put up a few nesting-boxes for Starlings 

 in my father's orchards in Kent, and when my brother started 

 marking the birds in 1908 we increased the accommodation 

 for them by adapting sundry old woodpecker and natural 

 holes in the old trees in various ways, so that they were not 

 only suitable to the birds but convenient to us to reach the 

 young ones when old enough for ringing. Since then I have 

 kept a careful account of all the broods reared and marked. 

 In most years the majority of the holes have been used for 

 first broods, though never all, which may mean, though I do 

 not regard it as a certainty, that the supply is slightly in 

 excess of the demand. Every year also a considerable 

 percentage are occupied later, and I always have a second 



