DESCRIPTION 



OF THE 



NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



OWING to want of space in the Bird Gallery 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 therefore arranged in the same sequence as the Cases, 

 which bear a special set of numbers. 



" Nesting-series No. 1 " is placed close to the entrance to the Bird 

 Gallery, and the last Case (No. 159) will be found in the Pavilion, at 

 the further end. 



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



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, and thus proves to be a great friend of 

 the farmer. 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 habitation 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. 



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 



