] 72 Lieut. R. E. Vaughau and Staff-Surg. K. H. Jones 



of buildings^ especially in old and ruinous pagodas, and 

 often in company with Passer montarius, Acridotheres 

 cristutellus, and sometimes with Cypselus subfurcatus. 



In Hong Kong these Stai^ings seek out their nesting- 

 sites of the previous year and repair their old nests, 

 littering and fouling the ground beneath to an astonishing 

 extent. They frequently nest in large communities. They 

 Occasionally feed upon the ground, but, as a rule, perch on 

 the slimmest twigs and branches of various trees, where tliey 

 pick insects and larvae from the leaves. 



The birds which breed at Hong Kong all leave by about 

 the middle of September, but they liave been noticed at 

 Macao a little later in the month. 



The first eggs are laid at the beginning of May and the 

 majority by the middle of the month; four or five form the 

 usual clutch. This species is not double-brooded, and the 

 voung remain with their parents all through the summer. 



Eggs vary in length from 1'08 to "95 and in breadth 

 from '75 to "GO, and average 1*01 x "74. 



Sturnia sturnina. 



On October 11, lOO^, near Samsbui, a flock of these 

 birds passed overhead whilst one of the writers was 

 shooting pigeons. He browned them and obtained several 

 specimens ; all of these, except one, were lost when H.M.S. 

 ' llobin^ was afterwards wrecked. 



This is the only occasion on which this species was met 

 with. 



GraCULIPICA NIGRICOLLIS. 



The Chinese Grackle is one of the commonest biids met 

 with in both provinces, biit is rather more abundant up the 

 river tlian on the sea-coast, and less plentiful to the west of 

 Wuchau than to the east of that place. 



The loud and cheerful piping cry of this bird is one of 

 the most familiar, as well as one of the most pleasant sounds 

 of the southern Chinese countryside, and is to be heard 

 cfuitinually after the moult is over in November, until the 

 succeeding autumn. At times these birds have been seen 



