234 STURNIDiE. 



pale blue, in some specimens slightly tinged with green, but 

 generally varying only in shade, their thin and semitrans- 

 parent shell giving them when fresh an opalescence of 

 surpassing beauty, which vanishes so soon as the contents 

 are emptied. They measure from 1'26 to 1"08 by from '88 

 to "81 in. Some Starlings begin to breed the first week in 

 April, while others hardly set about their nests till late in 

 May* — a fact which has led many people to suppose that 

 the same pair has two or more broods in the year, for 

 occasionally the same hole may be tenanted twice in the 

 season — but such an occurrence seems to be very rare in 

 this country.! The hen sits so closely that she may be often 

 caught on the nest, and the cock assists her by bringing her 

 food. The eggs are hatched in about sixteen! days, and 

 both old birds assiduously nurse the young till they can 

 fly. Loud are the cries of both parents and offspring at 

 feeding-time. The former uttering, mostly w^hen there is 

 cause for alarm, a sharp and angry " spate ", " spate ", while 

 the greeting of the latter sounds like " square '\ " square ". 

 By the end of a fortnight the nestlings are fully fledged, 

 and are then led abroad to find their own living in the 

 nearest pastures, wandering by degrees further and further 

 away ; but, for some weeks, the family continues in company, 

 and all its members return at nightfall to roost as close to 

 their home as circumstances permit. 



When the young towards midsummer have attained their 

 full strength, the various families begin to take yet wider 

 beats in search of food, and, falling in with others on the 

 same quest, gather in small companies, to which accessions 

 are constantly being made, until considerable bands are 

 formed. These range over the whole country — at times 

 affecting grassy downs or uplands, at times the fallows, or, 

 again, the lower and moister meadows, according as insects 



* Instances are recorded of the Starling ])reeding in autumn (Zool. p. 6328 

 and s.s. pp. 3313, 3368) : in spring the hen's habit of occasionally dropping an 

 egg on the grass must be known to many people. 



t Saxby speaks of it, however, as being the rule in Shetland. 



i On this point observers differ. Naumann says fourteen days, Herr H. C. 

 Midler (in the Fa?roes) eighteen. 



