FASSERES. ( 192 ) STURNIDM. 



THE STARLING. 



STARE, COMMON STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgaris. 



Syne, at the midis of the nieit, in come the menstrallis. 

 The Maviss and the Merle singis, 

 Osillis and Stirlingis. 



Holland, The Houlat, c. 1453. 



The garrtding of the Stirlene gart the Sparrow cheip. 



Sir David Lindsay, Complaynt of Scotland. 



Mr. John Wilson, late of Edington Mains, who has lived 

 in Berwickshire for the last seventy -seven years, has 

 informed me that the Starling was a rare bird in the 

 county about the beginning of this century, and that it was 

 then met with so seldom, that he was sixteen years old 

 before he saw one. In those days, Mr. Wilson says, a 

 Starling's nest was considered by boys at school to be a 

 great prize, and was spoken about by them for a long time 

 after its discovery. Dr. Stuart, Chirnside, has mentioned 

 to me that when he came to reside in Berwickshire, upwards 

 of thirty-five years ago, the Starling was rather scarce. 



It has now become so plentiful that it abounds in 

 every part of the county, and in the autumn months flocks 

 of many thousands roost together in some of the extensive 

 shrubberies which surround the houses of the landed 

 proprietors, the numbers of the birds in some cases being so 

 vast as to break down the branches upon which they alight. 



