33 



STABLING. 



STARE. COMMON STABLING. COMMON STARE. SOLITARY THRUSH, (THE YOUNG.) 



PLATE XCVI. FIG. I. 



Sturnus vulgaris, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



THE nest is large, and fabricated of straws, roots, portions of plants, 

 and dry grass, with a rude lining of feathers and hair. The birds will 

 sometimes resort most pertinaciously to the same building-place, in 

 spite of every opposition, discouragement, and blockade. In one 

 instance the eggs have been said to have been found in the nest of a 

 Magpie. 



The eggs, four or five to six in number, are of a delicate pale blue 

 colour: some have a few black dots. R. J. Davidson, Esq., of Muirhouse, 

 informs me of a nest of five perfectly white eggs, which he found in 

 a hollow tree at Dedham, in Essex, in 1862. 



Incubation lasts about sixteen days: both birds feed the young. 



J. R. Fisher, Esq. states that Mr. Gurney told him of a Starling, the 

 young of which, having been taken from the nest and placed in a cage 

 which was hung upon a wall, were discovered and fed by the old bird 

 until they were able to fly, at which time, and not before, she unfastened 

 the door of the casre and let them out. 



VOL. II. 



