74 CORVID^S. 



pices in our neighbourhood. I have been admiring this fore- 

 noon the graceful attitude and glossy plumage of some eigHt or 

 ten, which are now the only tenants of the old Castle of Doona, 

 once so celebrated as the stronghold of the dark lady, Grace 

 O'Malley. The eggs which you inquire about are most diffi- 

 cult to obtain, as the daws build in the most dangerous and 

 inaccessible situations around the coast." 



Rarely noticed in the immediate vicinity of our Dublin 

 coast, we have on two occasions observed a pair at the island 

 of Ireland's Eye ; and in the summer of 1852, when proceed- 

 ing round the eastern extremity of Lambay, three birds of 

 this species appeared on the wing, and in all probability had 

 nests in the fissures of the rock. 



Delicate in form, and beautiful in appearance, as is this 

 bird, its haunts are alone where nature exists surrounded by 

 the grandest sublimity of her powers. Thus, has it appeared 

 to us incongruously placed, living and rearing its brood by 

 those bleak, towering precipices which we see so often, as if 

 leaning out over the sea, listening to the eternal murmuring 

 of the ocean at their base, and from which the only prospect 

 we observe is the boundless horizon. Well might we say, 



" How fearful ! 



And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low. 

 The crow and chough, that wing the midway air, 

 Seem half as gross as beetles." 



Indigenous. 



GENUS XXXIV. STURNUS (STARE). 



SPECIES 70 THE STARE OR STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgaris. Linn. 

 Etouneau vulgaire. Temm. 



THE STARE is a species of such common occurrence and re- 

 markable plumage as to be well known to every one. Widely 

 distributed over the island, it occurs in the most varied and 

 different situations. Thus, they will frequent and breed in 

 numbers under the thatch of a cottage, without the slightest 

 fear of the inmates ; or they will congregate and frequent 

 the dark, uninviting interior of caves, which lie open and ex- 

 posed along the sea-shore. 



Of inoffensive habits, they are always regarded with a fa- 

 vourable eye, excepting during winter, when, formed into large 

 flocks, they offer to the tyro a mark too tempting to be with- 

 stood. At that season we also observe them in considerable 



