THE STARLING. 485 
time. Before retiring to rest they perform numerous manceuvres in 
the air, the whole colony frequently describing rapid counter-flights 
round a common centre. They will sometimes continue repeating 
the eccentric evolutions for half an hour before they finally settle for 
the night.” . Their favourite food is insects, worms, and small terres- 
trial molluscs, occasionally seeds and berries. They select for their 
nesting-places hollows of decaying trees, crevices of walls, the bel- 
fries of old churches, the ledges of roofs, and sometimes even the in- 
terior of pigeon-houses. ‘The nest is formed of dry grass, in which 
Fig. 201.—Starling. 
five light blue eggs are laid. The Starling is accused of seeking the 
shelter of the dovecot for the purpose of sucking the inhabitants’ 
eggs, but this is now found to be a calumnious error. They are 
diffused over all quarters of the globe. There are two species de- 
scribed among European birds—Sturnus vulgaris, Fig. 201 (the Com- 
mon Starling) and Sturnus unicolor (the Sardinian Starling), which is 
black, and without spots, with the anterior feathers very long, tapering, 
and drooping from the base of the neck. -It is also found in Algeria 
among the rocks, where it builds. It passes the winter on the African 
coast of the Mediterranean, in company with the Common Starling. 
Its flesh is bitter, and consequently unpleasant to the taste, so when 
