lUO Notes on the British Starling. 



(leiviteis and emolimentis pertening thairto for all the dayes of 

 his lyftyme, reservand alwayis the fruictes thairof to Mr Robert 

 Douglas lait Provest of the said Provestrie as the said gift and 

 provisioun proportis and forder our said soverane lord with avis 

 foirsaid declairis decernis and ordanis that the said provisioun 

 salbe of fuill strenth and force to the said William for bruiking 

 of the said Provestrie fruictis mailles fermis and dewateis thairof 

 in maner foirsaid salbe of full strenth and force to the said 

 Robert for bruiking of the samyn during his lyft)'me notwith- 

 standing quhatsumevir constitutionis and actis of parliament 

 maid of befoir with the quhilkis his hienes with advis foirsaid 

 hes dispensit and dispensis be ther putis. 



Notes on the British Starling. By Mr R. Service, 

 M.B.O.U. 



The starling has been a prime favourite of mine for a long 

 period. I think it started in my earlier schooldays, when this 

 particular bird was one of the great prizes of the schoolboys who 

 were collecting eggs. At that time they had not above two, or 

 perhaps three, nesting sites in the whole of the wide district 

 around Dumfries and Maxwelltown. These poor birds must 

 have had a very hard time, because every egg they laid year after 

 year was rigorously taken, and it is within my own knowledge that 

 one or two at least of these birds must have laid in the course of 

 a season three or four dozen eggs, all of which were taken for 

 collection purposes. They might find yet in some of the older 

 collections some few specimens still labelled with names of these 

 old and long-forgotten sites. That was the period about 1860, 

 1862, and 1863, and previous to that time the bird was almost 

 unknown here. Some of the old men whom I have spoken to 

 used to tell me in great detail how they first found a starling's 

 nest, and what a prize it was to them. I remember how my old 

 friend, Mr John Maxwell, who was long an honoured and valued 

 member of this society, first found a pair of starlings breeding 

 at the end of a farmhouse in Irongray. The young birds were 

 taken, and Mr Maxw-ell used to tell me that his birds were the 

 envy of all the bird-catching fraternity throughout the district. 

 All over the country the starlings afterwards became so exceed- 

 inglv numerous that nobodv cared to have them, and thev were a 



