290 STURNIDiE. 



the hand from an upper window, but fortunately the birds were 

 not molested, and the young escaped in safety.* 



Massareene deer-park t and Shane's Castle Park, both well 

 wooded and extensive demesnes situated on the banks of Lough 

 Neagh, and far " remote from public haunt," J are now their regular 

 nesting-places. || Euined castles, both in marine and inland locali- 

 ties, in the north of the island, where not very many years ago 

 they built, have of late, without any apparent cause, been deserted ; 

 and the same has been reported to me with respect to districts in 

 the south. 



The starling has been well described by authors, as one of the 

 most sociable of birds. Every month in the year it may be ob- 

 served in flocks, though in May and June but few individuals, 

 comparatively, are seen congregated in these islands. At the end 

 of May, I have observed nearly fifty in company in the Begent's 

 Park, London : but in Holland, I have at the same period of the 

 year remarked considerable flocks feeding in the pastures, and 

 flying from tree to tree on the road-sides. At the end of June 

 and very early in July, large flocks are not unfrequent : — around 

 Penrith, in the north of England ; in the neighbourhood of Bir- 

 mingham ; and in the very different scenery of the South Islands 

 of Arran, off Galway bay; I have observed flocks at this season. 



* In Dunn's Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and Shetland, we are told that 

 the starling " frequently builds its nest in the walls of the houses so low that it may 

 be easily reached with the hand, yet it is seldom disturbed by the people," p. 81. 



f May 29, 1836. I remarked nine starlings associating together here, and about 

 the same time, saw a single bird hastening, its bill being filled with food, to its mate or 

 young. From the 6th of June to the second week of July, according to the season, 

 young starlings have been observed by the Bishop of Norwich to be able to leave their 

 birth-place in company with their parents. 



| This observation, correct though it be, may seem strange to persons who have at 

 this season observed the starling about the parks of London, including the niuch- 

 frequented St. James's Park. "When in the Green Park, on the 19th of May, 1843, I 

 remarked four starlings, at half-past six o'clock in the evening, fly singly, with food in 

 their bills, to the tops of the houses north of the park, in the chimnies of which 

 they probably had young. Mr. Richard Taylor, F. L. S., mentioned in a note to my 

 paper on this species, published in the Annals of Natural History, that starlings still 

 frequent the precincts of the Charterhouse, in the centre of London. 



|| Starlings have been observed at Dromedaragh (co. Antrim), busily occupied in 

 and about the old nests of rooks ; but whether they were intent on building or food, 

 was not ascertained. 



