44 STURNID^E. 



starlings were first observed, they were estimated at from 

 fifteen thousand to twenty thousand : but during three 

 years they seem to have increased tenfold. 



In winter, for the sake of the warmer temperature, Star- 

 lings frequently roost in pigeon-houses, and are accused of 

 destroying both eggs and young Pigeons. This has been 

 doubted ; and as I can substantiate no charge on my own 

 knowledge, I leave the cause of the accused Starlings in 

 the hands of a very able advocate, before referred to, who 

 has much better opportunities of personal observation than 

 I have. Colonel Montagu, when residing near Kings- 

 bridge, observed that in very hard weather large flocks 

 of Starlings flew towards West Devon and Cornwall, re- 

 turning when the frost broke up ; and Mr. Couch, at Pol- 

 perro, and Mr. E. H. Eodd, at Penzance, have observed 

 that large flocks of these birds visit Cornwall in autumn 

 and winter, but that few remain to breed ; they even 

 depart, Mr. Couch says, in his Cornish Fauna, much earlier 

 than the migratory birds that go to the northern parts of 

 Europe. 



The Starling is found in almost every part of the United 

 Kingdom. In the Hebrides, according to Mr. Macgillivray, 

 and in Orkney, it is found in thousands ; where, Mr. Low 

 says, it is also a favourite, as few houses are built, but se- 

 veral holes are left in the wall for its convenience, of which 

 it always, as if sensible of the favour, avails itself, and 

 repays it with a song, and an occasional display of its antic 

 mimicry. In the winter, Mr. Low observes, when the 

 earth is locked up with frost, and worms or insects no 

 longer to be obtained, the Starling visits the sea side, where 

 it lives upon marine animals, insinuating the point of its 

 beak under stones, turning them over with a jerk, and 

 immediately seizing what may be underneath. A feeling 



