314 Practical Bird-Keeping .— VI. Starlings.


finch-like Starlings for a considerable time upon seed alone, I do

not recommend it as an exclusive diet; I think that some at

least of those which I owned in past years would have lived

longer under occasional soft-food treatment: unfortunately some

of these had been brought home upon a seed-diet alone and I

consequently found them unwilling to touch soft food.


The Agelcenincz , with the exception of the Cowbirds, which

are parasitic, construct their nests, as a general rule, on or close

to the ground near water; or in reeds, rushes and other aquatic

plants over water ; one or two however place their nests in low

trees or bushes, or even on the leaf-sheaths of palms. Attempts

have been made to breed Cowbirds by turning them loose among

many other nesting birds, but they did not avail themselves of

the opportunity thus offered of securing foster-parents for their

young.


The StnrnellincB or typical Troupials do best in a moderate¬

sized aviary: their natural food consists of seeds and insects and

therefore they are better suited to a seed diet in captivity than

any other Starlings excepting the more fincli-like members of the

preceding Subfamily. I kept De Filippi’s Troupial chiefly upon

seed and cockroaches, as I did also the Bobolink, the Red-breasted

Marsli-Troupial, the Brown-headed Meadow-Starling and the

Silky Cowbird : I also attempted to keep the Yellow-shouldered

Marsh-Troupial 011 the same diet, because it did not take kindly

to soft food, but my later experience with the allied Flame¬

shouldered species proved this to be a fatal mistake.


The Glossy Black Troupials or American Grackles ( Quis -

calincs) are powerful birds which build open cup-shaped nests

either in dense or shrubby trees, low bushes, reeds, matted grass-

tufts, or holes in trees or banks, usually near to or over water ;

mud is frequently used in the structure. The birds feed not

only upon seeds and fruits, but also upon eggs and young of

other birds, frogs, newts, fish, molluscs, crustaceans, spiders,

insects and worms, so that their diet in captivity should contain

a moderate amount of animal food, shredded raw beef being

•only given when no small dead birds or other vertebrates are

available.


The Cassiques ( Cassicince ) are again large birds, most of



