INTRODUCED BIRDS 437 



to fancy wild life in the bush. There is always plenty of dry 

 grass for his bulky and roughly-constructed nest, and trees or 

 hedges or hollows under the eaves enough in which to build it. 

 Two or three broods are produced in the season, with five eggs 

 to the sitting, so that the rate of increase is very high. It is no 

 wonder then that the birds appear in large flocks, and that the 

 gardens are full of them. There is no doubt that they consume a 

 multitude of noxious insects, and so do something to retrieve 

 their character, but it is hard to persuade a farmer whose sowing 

 and whose reaping have been spoilt by mobs of the birds in quest 

 of the grain that the Sparrow is anything but an unmitigated 

 nuisance. 



Starlings have been only less successful than the Sparrow in 

 establishing themselves in the great centres of population, and 

 are spreading, though more slowly, over the whole of 

 the Southern States. They live in flocks, and for 

 eleven months in the year do most useful work in 

 destroying the wireworms and other ground insect 

 larvEe. They make themselves quite at home among the 

 grazing cattle, and birds may occasionally be seen on the backs 

 of the beasts. It is in the time when the fruit is ripening that 

 they make their enemies, for they raid the orchards, especially in 

 a very dry season, in the early morning, and from their size and 

 numbers are capable of doing much destruction. The nest is 

 almost as uncouth and rough as that of the Sparrow, and made 

 in any natural or artificial cavity which is available. The clutch 

 also consists of from four to six pale-blue eggs, so that the 

 reproductive powers are considerable. They are pugnacious 

 birds, well able to take their own part, even against the birds of 

 prey. " If a bird of prey is seen, a large flock will rise as one 

 bird, and circle round and over the object of their fear as it 

 flies along. I have seen a flock of considerably over a thousand 

 Starlings doing this." (Surgeon-Colonel C. Ryan). The Hawk 

 is so much harassed that all its wits are needed to extricate itself 

 from its pursuers. 



The Thrushes and Blackbirds have not spread to any great 

 ■extent, but are occasionally seen and heard in the environs of 

 Melbourne and Sydney as they seem to thrive only in the gardens. 

 Both birds are prolific, and they can find abundance of the 



