NESTING OF THE PHILIPPINE GLOSSY STARLING 



By Paul D. Bunker ' 

 (Corregidor, P. I.) 



April 23, 1916, while at Fort Wint, Subic Bay, Luzon, Philip- 

 pine Islands, my attention was attracted by a large number of 

 black birds that alighted repeatedly on some rotten piles stick- 

 ing out of the water in front of the quarters. These wpoden 

 piles, the remains of a wharf which formerly existed here, ex- 

 tend about 1.2 meters above high water and are fairly rotten, 

 especially the cores. The range of tide is about 1 meter. 



One of these birds would alight on the top of a pile and chatter 

 a second, whereupon its mate would pop up beside it, and after 

 a short conversation the first bird would disappear into a hole in 

 one of the piles and the second bird would fly away. There 

 were from one to two hundred of the piles and almost every 

 rotten one seemed to contain a nest. 



The nests consisted of nothing more than the soft punk of 

 rotten wood on which the eggs were laid. One nest contained 

 three young, recently hatched. Another contained the two eggs 

 which I took. They had evidently been incubated for a few days. 



The birds appear to be of about the size of the American red- 

 wing blackbird or a trifle smaller. Their totally black plumage 

 has a beautiful iridescence, and their irides are flaming scarlet. 

 They are doubtless Lamprocorax panayensis (Scopoli), the Phil- 

 ippine glossy starling. 



The eggs measure 29 by 19 and 28 by 19 millimeters, respec- 

 tively, and in color agree with the description given by Grant and 

 Whitehead,^ except that there are a few scattered markings along 

 the sides of the eggs, beside those at the large end. 



' Captain, Coast Artillery Corps, United States Army. 

 'See McGregor, Manual of Philippine Birds. Manila (1909), 716. 



267 



