334 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



write to Mr. Herridge, who recorded it in ' Science Gossip,' as it appears that 

 he himself never saw the bird. — Cecil Smith (Lydeard House, Bishop's 

 Lydeard). 



On a peculiar Habit of the Starling. — It is now many years ago 

 that I first used to find now and then, during its breeding season, a 

 Starling's egg on my lawn. These eggs were always quite fresh and 

 uninjured; and I concluded that — as we know is the case at times with 

 domestic fowls — they were accidentally dropped by the birds as they were 

 running about and feeding. (See a note in ' Yarrell,' 4th ed., ii., p. 234.) 

 On one occasion, however, — and that is now also some years ago, — I happened 

 to see a Starling fly from among some trees where these birds constantly 

 breed, and as it crossed the lawn it dropped something which just before 

 I could see it holding in its beak ; this, to my surprise, was an egg, and 

 perfectly fresh. I have seen a repetition of this several times since; the 

 latest instance occurred about the middle of June, and on picking up this 

 egg in order to blow out its contents, and prepare it for my little boy's 

 collection. I was still more surprised to find that it contained a young bird just 

 ready to hatch. It seems difficult to assign a reason for the birds bringing 

 out and abandoning their eggs at any time, but still more so just as the 

 egg is about to hatch ! No doubt there is some good reason for it, and 

 possibly some of the correspondents of 'The Zoologist' may be able to tell 

 us the reason ; but for myself I cannot at present account for it at all, nor 

 indeed do I remember ever to have heard the fact mentioned or seen it 

 noticed. — 0. P. Cambridge (Bloxworth Rectory, Blandford). 



Food of the Starling. — Last month, on some repairs being done to 

 the roof of one of the farm-buildings, a Starling's nest with young was 

 disclosed, near which were collected a number of wireworms — and wire- 

 worms only. A farm labourer drew my attention to them, and expressed 

 his surprise, as he was a sharer in the popular delusions about the food of 

 the Starling. — E. F. Beoheb (Southwell, Notts). 



Supposed nestling Grey Plover from the Orkneys. — Responding to 

 a request from my friend the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, and to your editorial 

 note, I recently examined the nestling Grey Plover referred to at p. 179. 

 The Orkney birds in the Hope Collection at Oxford were, as Mr. Rowell 

 tells me, all collected by the Rev. F. AY. Hope himself, and preserved by 

 his man. On their arrival at the Museum they were, with the other birds in 

 the collection, removed from the cases in which they were then mounted and 

 placed on their present stands. The Orkney specimens were in a separate 

 lot, and for this reason it is probable that their localities are correct. 

 Turning to the specimen in question, I may state that it has a back toe, 

 and a very well-developed one, too : this bird would be perhaps a fortnight 

 old, possibly older. This, of course, at once proves that it is not the Golden 



