STURNID^— STARLINGS. 



129 



says (47, 88) one was " killed by a boy with a stone on Epping Plain. Another 

 was killed in 1840." English includes it (43. i. 24) in his Epping List. In 1858 

 Hy. Doubleday wrote (23. 6093) 

 '' I have seen 'numbers of these 

 birds on the coast of Essex." Lieut. 

 Legge says (34. 90) that in the 

 second week of November, 1865, 

 several occurred near Shoebury 

 during mild weather. iVlr. Kerry 

 says (40. iii. 182) that in October 

 and November, 1878, large flocks 

 frequented the shore at Walton 

 and Dovercourt, and many were 

 shot, while it is more or less com- 

 mon most winters round Harwich. 

 Four were shot near Walton-on- 

 the-Naze early in November, 1879 

 (29. Nov. 

 wall there. 



Mr. Hope writes : " I saw the first, which was very tame, this year (1888) on 

 Sept. 24th, just before a gale, but they generally arrive in flocks of hundreds 

 about a month or six weeks later. When they first land they will often let one 

 walk within a yard of them." Mr. Stacey of Dunmow preserved some shot near 

 there in or about the winter of 1879-80. 



SNOW BUNTING, male in autu7iin, 

 Mr. R. H. Eve of Maldon has several which he shot on the sea- 



Family STURNID^^. 



Starling : Sturnus vulgaris. 



An abundant resident. It has become of late years very much 

 commoner than formerly. Cream-coloured, pied, or white varieties 

 are not very rare. 



Mr. Grubb says (39), " This bird 

 almost darkens the air on our 

 meadows [at Sudbury] in winter." 

 Mr. Buxton says (47. 85) that it is 

 "perhaps the most abundant bird 

 in the [Epping Forest] district 

 after the sparrow." W. H. Hill 

 speaks of it (12. vi. 452) as occur- 

 ring " in immense clouds on the 

 marshes " near Southminster about 

 1832. Yarrell says (14. ii. 46) that 

 in summer and autumn they "roost 

 by thousands among reeds in the 

 fenny parts of Essex, Cambridge, 

 and other counties." 



The Tuck Collection in the Saffron Walden Museum contains several white 

 specimens taken from a nest at Quendon in May, 1858. Lieut. Legge records 



K 



STARLING, J(. 



