DESCRIPTION 



OF THE 



NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Owing to want of space it has been found impossible to arrange the 

 Cases containing the Nesting-series of British Birds in exact scientific 

 order. The following descriptions of the species exhibited are there- 

 fore arranged in the same sequence as the Cases in the Bird Gallery, 

 which bear a special set of numbers. 



No. 1. STARLING or STARE. (Sturnus vulgaris.) 



One of the most widely distributed of our indigenous birds and 

 very numerous in cultivated districts, where it destroys an immense 

 number of noxious grubs and insects, although it may do much damage 

 to crops wlien present in large numbers. It places its nest, a large 

 untidy structure of dry grass or straw, sometimes lined with wool or 

 feathers, in a tree or in masonry, and readily attaches itself to the 

 habitations of man, breeding under the roofs of houses. It is very 

 prolific, rearing two broods of from four to seven young ones each. 

 The eggs are pale greenish-blue. 



Norfolk, June. 



Presented by Lord Walsingham, F.R.S. 



No. 2. JAY. * (Garrulus glandarius.) 



This beautiful bird is resident in the British Islands and was formerly 

 more common than at the present time, having been persecuted in 

 many localities on account of its egg-stealing propensities and the 

 depredations which it occasionally commits in orchards and gardens. 

 It inhabits thickly-wooded districts, and builds its nest at a height of 



