80 THE STARLING. 



while the keeper, that slave of Nimrod, receives 

 thanks, and often a boon, from the surrounding 

 sportsmen, for having freed the dovecot from such 

 a pest. Alas ! these poor starlings had merely re- 

 sorted to it for shelter and protection, and were in 

 no way responsible for the fragments of egg-shells 

 which were strewed upon the floor. These fragments 

 were the work of deep -designing knaves, and not of 

 the harmless starling. 



The rat and the weasel were the real destroyers ; 

 but they had done the deed of mischief in the dark, 

 unseen and unsuspected; while the stranger starlings 

 were taken, condemned, and executed, for having 

 been found in a place built for other tenants of a 

 more profitable description. 



After the closest examination of the form and 

 economy of the starling, you will be at a loss to pro- 

 duce any proof of its being an egg-sucker. If it 

 really sucks the eggs of pigeons, it would equally 

 suck the eggs of other birds ; and, those eggs not 

 being concealed in the dark recesses of the pigeon- 

 cot, but exposed in open nests on the ground, and 

 often in the leafless bushes of the hedge, this fact 

 would afford to the inquisitive naturalist innumer- 

 able opportunities of detecting the bird in its de- 

 predations. Now who has ever seen the starling 

 in the absolute act of plundering a nest ? It builds 

 its nest here, in company with the ringdove, the 

 robin, the greenfinch, the wagtail, the jackdaw, the 

 chaffinch, and the owl, but it never touches their 

 eggs. Indeed, if it were in the habit of annoying 

 its immediate neighbours, upon so tender a point as 



