36 STARLING. 



shaped nests in Scotch firs, the entrance placed near 

 the branch of the tree, the nests being made of coarse 

 grass, and lined with fine grass.- He also writes in 

 'The Naturalist,' volume i., page 214, of some built 

 in trees that were quite flat; and again, page 116, that 

 he has known them feloniously and burglariously occupy 

 the holes previously excavated by Sand Martin's for 

 themselves, contrary, I may observe, to 'Martin's Act;' 

 and J. Mc'Intosh, Esq., also mentions, at page 204, 

 describing a famous chesnut tree in the grounds of 

 Canford House, Dorsetshire, one of five planted by John 

 of Gaunt, and still flourishing so long since 'time- 

 honoured Lancaster' himself has mouldered into dust, 

 that at its base was a colony of rabbits, in the trunk 

 a nest of cats, and immediately above the latter, one 

 of Starlings. One has been built for two or three 

 years in succession, in the garden of Nunburnholme 

 Rectory, in the depth of a hole in a large old acacia 

 tree, which went quite down to the ground. Since 

 then the tree has been blown down, and I happened 

 to see it fall. 



The nest is large, and fabricated of straws, roots, 

 portions of plants, and dry grass, or hay, 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 block- 

 ade. In one instance the eggs have been said to have 

 been found in the nest of a Magpie. One pair having 

 with much difficulty forced their way into a ball used 

 by being raised or let down to act as a signal on a 

 railway, there built their nest, and though the ball was 

 elevated and lowered to within a few feet of the ground 

 fourteen times a day, this did not interfere with their 

 proceedings, and in due time four eggs were laid with 



