STARLING. 99 



sibly the Starling may sometimes be a useful bird, for 

 I have read of an instance of a nest of young Starlings 

 being fed on wire-worms, and wire-worms only at 

 any rate, that was the only food found in the vicinity 

 of the nest. 



The Starling generally commences to build early 

 in April. Its nest is a loosely put together structure, 

 built of straw, dead grass and rootlets, and lined some- 

 times with feathers or wool, and bits of string. Some- 

 times there is scarcely anything of a nest at all. It 

 is placed in the hole of a tree, in the gable of a roof, 

 under the eaves, or in a stack-pipe, sometimes also 

 in a pigeon-cot. In almost any suitable hole it can 

 find the Starling will build. 



The eggs, four to seven, are of a beautiful greenish 

 blue, or bluish white colour, rather rough but highly 

 polished, and perfectly free from any markings what- 

 ever. Frequently eggs of this bird are dropped on 

 the grass in the breeding season, generally unbroken. 

 Some have been picked up almost hatched. It has 

 been suggested that this is the outcome of quarrels. * 

 The notes of the Starling are very strange and not 

 easily mistaken for those of any other bird. Some of 

 them are harsh, but others are pleasant and full, and 

 altogether the song is cheering and lively. It also has 

 the power of imitating the notes of other birds. 



In confinement it may be made very tame and 

 taught to whistle tunes and say several words. In 

 1880 one of our Queenwood boys had a Starling 



* If the eggs are taken from the nest, the Starling will con- 

 trive to replace them with fresh clutches, as many as forty 

 eggs having been taken from one nest in this way. The 

 Starling also will return to its old nesting site year after 

 year. 



