96 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
those just excavated. Mr. F. Nicholson has often taken 
eggs from under the thatched eaves of corn-stacks at 
Ashley Hall, and we have found the bird breeding in 
similar situations at Wythenshawe. 
By destroying worms, small molluscs, and insects, 
which last are often captured on the wing, the Starling 
during the greater part of the year renders invaluable 
service to the agriculturist. The bird, however, is not 
exclusively an animal feeder, for in the autumn it 
levies heavy toll upon fruit-trees of various kinds. 
This frugivorous habit appears to have been acquired 
only recently, as it is not alluded to in many standard 
works on Ornithology, and has possibly arisen through 
the increasing numbers of the birds outgrowing the 
means of subsistence. Mr. J. D. Siddall alludes to the 
fondness of Starlings for the berries of the mountain- 
ash and yew, and states that ‘when cherries are ripe, 
they seem to be converted for the while into eating 
machines, and go on, if undisturbed, eating all day 
long.” We have observed that when the mountain- 
ash and the beam-tree are in fruit, the Starlings far 
outnumber the Thrushes and Blackbirds which flock 
to feed upon the ripe berries. Mr. J. J. Cash tells us 
that he has often seen the birds feeding upon haws, 
and they are also partial to ripe elder-berries. They 
show a great partiality for pears, and a flock of twenty 
or thirty birds will cause considerable damage to a tree 
of choice fruit. Starlings invariably attack pears in the 
ripest part, near the stalk, eating downwards, and often 
leaving only the stalk and core hanging to the branch, 
whilst the ground below is strewn with the lower half 
of the fruit. 
1 Proceedings of the Chester Society of Natural Science and Litera- 
ture, No. iv. p. 206. 
