14 BRITISH BIRDS. 
encouragement to take up its quarters in any suitable hole or box placed 
for its reception. It will even dislodge large tiles and burrow considerable 
distances under the eaves; and its bulky nest often stops up some spout, 
to the dismay of the householder. A hole in the gable or inside the 
dovecot are also favourite places, whilst its partiality for holes in trees 
is none the less. It also commonly breeds in ruins, churches, and old 
masonry of every description. In the wilder portions of the country the 
Starling selects a hole either in a tree or rock for its purpose; and it will 
often breed in great numbers in caves or in the crevices of the ocean- 
cliffs. The nest is sometimes but a few inches from the entrance to the 
hole, at others it is several feet, and in many cases, especially in trees and 
rocks, is absolutely inaccessible. In the Outer Hebrides, where trees are 
absent, the Starling breeds, according to Mr. Gray, under the stones on 
the beach, in disused rat-holes, in turf-dykes, and in holes in walls. 
Saxby states that in Shetland it breeds in peat-stacks and rabbit-holes. 
It has also been known in one or two instances to build an open and 
exposed nest in trees, to rear its young in a hole in the ground, and to 
share the same nest with a Magpie. 
The Starling’s nest is a somewhat slovenly structure, made of straw, 
dead grass, and rootlets, sometimes a twig or two, and is lined with a few 
feathers, a little wool, or even a scrap or two of moss, paper, rag, or twine. 
In many cases the birds do not trouble about a lining at all; and the cup 
of the nest is entirely composed of straws, arranged very evenly and 
smoothly, but with a lot of straggling bents around it. The nest is in 
some cases much more elaborately made than in others ; and in some holes 
the dry and powdered wood at the bottom almost does sole duty for a bed. 
With great perseverance the Starling will continue to build in the same 
hole, although its nest is repeatedly removed, and each year the birds will 
return to their old quarters. 
The eggs of the Starling are from four to seven in number, six being an 
average clutch. They are slightly elongated and rough in grain, but very 
highly polished, and are a delicate greenish blue, sometimes very pale 
bluish white. They vary in length from 1:25 to 1°] inch, and in breadth 
from *88 to ‘80 inch. From the eggs of the Rose-coloured Starling, those 
of the present species may always be distinguished by their greenish or bluish 
tints ; those of the former are shining white, almost like a Woodpecker’s. 
The Starling, in most cases, rears two broods in the year, sometimes 
three, though this has been denied. As soon as the young of the first 
broods can shift for themselves they are abandoned and roam about in 
flocks, and their parents go off to their nesting-holes again. As is usual 
with life-paired birds, the Starling will continue to lay in its old nest, 
although its eggs are repeatedly taken. Dixon, in a single season, has 
taken from a nest of this bird as many as forty eggs; and he has every 
