84. BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
IV.—_STURNIDZ. 
113. STARLING—(Sturnus vulgaris). 
Common Starling, Stare, Sheep-stare, Solitary Thrush, Brown 
Starling.—The two last of these names used to be applied 
to the young of the Starling. Few cases of more brilliant 
plumage are met with in our English birds than in the instance of 
the male of the Common Starling. The metallic glow and play 
of colours in the feathers of his head, neck and back is very 
beautiful. It is a very abundant bird, and itis supposed by some 
that there are some peculiarities in its breeding habits. I 
mean that I have heard it asserted that the male is a polygamist, 
or rather perhaps a bigamist. I never saw any thing within my own 
scope of observation which led me to suspect it, but rather to 
hold the received belief that the Starling pairs exactly as most 
other birds do. They are exceedingly pertinacious in adhering to 
their choice of a place for nesting in. I knew one case in which 
from the inconvenient nature of the nest-site selected, one of 
the birds was shot. In a very short space the survivor had paired 
again, and the gun again dissolved the union. The whole process 
was repeated five or six times, and the Starlings bred at last in the 
| place chosen by the original pair. The nest is found in a great 
variety of situations,—in the bowl of a water pipe from the eaves 
of a house, in a dove-cot, in holes in trees, below the nests in a 
rookery, in holes in old buildings or more recent masonry, between 
the slates and underdrawing of a roof, in holes in steep high rocks, 
in chimneys of houses, and the like. It is made, without stint of ’ 
materials, of straw, roots, grass, and a plentiful lining of feathers, 
The eggs, four to six in number, vary strangely in size but not 
in colour. which is ofa uniform pale blue. In some districts 
where the Starling abounds, they collect in huge flocks, the young 
