134 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



well constructed for defence against enemies ; being 

 of an oval shape, and large ; framed on the outside 

 with sharp, thorny sticks, strongly interwoven, 

 and forming a dome over the top. This frame- 

 work is plastered inside with earth, and lined with 

 fibrous roots and dry grass. One small .opening is 

 left at the side, just enough to admit the parent 

 bird, which generally sits with her head to the 

 hole, ready to escape from the nest at the slightest 

 alarm. 



Few birds are more generally known than the 

 STARLING ; and as it is a familiar bird, and easily 

 tamed, its habits, in a state of captivity, have been 

 frequently observed. The evening is the time 

 when starlings flock together in greatest number, 

 and betake themselves to the fens and marshes, 

 where they roost among the reeds, to which they 

 resort in such numbers as to break down and destroy 

 whole beds. They chatter most vociferously in 

 the evening and in the morning, when they 

 assemble and disperse. 



A striking account of the numbers in which 

 they are sometimes seen, is given in " The 

 Zoologist, for 1849." The writer says : " On 

 October 2nd, 1844, I noticed the most amazing 

 flock of birds that it was ever my lot to witness. 

 They were starlings. At a distance they resembled 

 some gigantic mass of cloud, slowly traversing 



