THE STARLING. 329 



in multitudes as numerous as the rook. They require a place for 

 their nest well protected from the external air. The inside of the 

 roof of a house, a deep hole in a tower, or in the decayed trunk or 

 branch of a tree, are places admirably adapted for the incubation of 

 the starling ; and he will always resort to them, provided he be un- 

 molested. The same may be said of the jackdaw. 



Attentive observation led me to believe that the great bulk of 

 starlings left our neighbourhood in the spring, solely for want of 

 proper accommodation for their nests. For many years, only two 

 pairs of starlings remained on my island. One of them regularly 

 built its nest in the roof of the house, having found entrance through 

 a neglected aperture ; the other reared its young, high up, in the 

 deep hole of an aged sycamore tree. Two or three pairs frequented 

 the dovecot : but I observed that they built their nests in the cran- 

 nies, and not in the holes made for the pigeons. These poor birds, 

 together with the owl, had to suffer persecution from wanton ignor- 

 ant servants, until I proclaimed perpetual peace in their favour, and 

 ordered, I may say, the Temple of Janus to be shut, never more to 

 be opened during my time. 



Having been successful in establishing the owl in the old ivy 

 tower over the gateway, I conjectured, from what I had observed of 

 the habits of the starling, that I could be equally successful in per- 

 suading a greater number of these pretty lively birds to pass the 

 summer with me. I made twenty-four holes in the old ruin ; and in 

 the spring of this year I had twenty-four starlings' nests. There 

 seemed to be a good deal of squabbling about the possession of the 

 holes ; till at last might overcame right. The congregated numbers 

 suddenly disappeared, no doubt with the intention of finding breed- 

 ing quarters elsewhere ; and the remaining four and twenty pairs 

 hatched and reared their young, causing, I fear, .the barn owls, their 

 next-door neighbours in the tower, many a sleepless day, by their 

 unwelcome and incessant chatterings. On the one hand, when we 

 consider how careful the starling is in selecting a place for its in- 

 cubation, sheltered from the storm ; and, on the other, when we look 

 around us, and see how many old houses have been pulled down, 

 where these birds found a refuge ; and when we reflect how modern 

 luxury, and the still more baneful turf, have forced many a country 



