IN THE NORTH OF KENT 97 
Some large white fungi were flourishing on it. 
Half of the tree had fallen away by its weight. 
This left some long cracks in the thick main 
stem, and was just the spot for a starling to 
select fora nest. Plate XVI shows the tree 
with fungi on it. At the upper part of the 
trunk may be seen some bits of hay and straw 
sticking out from where a nest had been built 
These birds are always slovenly builders 
sce fuerte top. At) Starlings, “however, 
prefer, I think, gutters and chimney nooks to 
build in. An old wooden gutter of my 
house is occupied each year by a starling’s 
nest. Ii is situated. at the. ‘back of the 
house which was built in the reigns of the 
Georges. Looking through a dense may 
hedge on the marshes, to which we had come 
now, a very large nest was apparent, but too 
high and too much concealed to photograph, 
unfortunately. It was the old nest of a magpie. 
(They are sometimes built quite low.) It was 
quite eighteen inches high and a foot across, 
made of sticks like a rook’s or carrion crow’s. 
It was shaped something like an egg or a foot- 
B.N.—III. H 
