270 NESTS AND EGGS OK 



and habits of a jay ; of a restless, roving disposition, but resident 

 wberever found. 



It breeds in colonies, nesting in April, May and June, according 

 to locality. Nests containing eggs have been found in Nevada by Mr. 

 H. G. Parker in the first part of May, and fully fledged young were 

 observed in the same region by Prof Ridgway as early as April 21. 

 Mr. H. B. Bailey took a set of four eggs in New Mexico that were well 

 incubated June 5. Capt. B. F. Goss found this bird breeding in the 

 region southeast of Fort Garland — the western base of the Sangre de 

 Christo Mountains, at an elevation of about 9000 feet. The nests 

 were all in small pinon pines, from five to ten feet up, out some dis- 

 tance from the body of the tree, and not particularly well-concealed. 

 They are large, coarse and deeply-hollowed structures, much alike, 

 being made mostly of grayish shreds of some fibrous plant or bark, 

 which breaks up into a mass of hair-like fibres, these forming the 

 lining, while some weeds and grass are worked into the general fabric. 

 The birds were close sitters, several not leaving till the nest was 

 shaken, and they could have been caught with the hand. One nest 

 contained five eggs, six contained four each, and two three each ; both 

 sets of three were partly incubated. Two nests were taken May 5, five 

 on the loth and two on the nth, 1879. The eggs are quite pointed at 

 the small end ; the ground-color is bluish-white, splashed all over with 

 small spots of dark brown, thickest at the large end. Thirteen eggs 

 measure respectively : 1.19X.88, 1.21X.93, 1.22X.92, 1.25X.91, i.i/x 

 .87, 1.18X.84, 1.17X.85, 1.20X.82, 1.17X.80; average, 1.19X.87.* 



[493.] Sturnus vulgaris Linn. [279.] 



starling. 



Hab. Europe and Northern Asia; accidental in Greenland. 



A specimen of the Starling, taken in Greenland in 1851, 

 entitles it to a place in the avifauna of North America. It is 

 a well-known bird in Europe, and of a very general distribu- 

 tion. Its handsome plumage, sprightly, social habits, retentive mem- 

 ory, and pleasing, imitative voice have made it a great favorite as a 

 caged bird. It is said to live in flocks the greater part of the year, 

 selecting for its nest suitable places in holes of trees, eaves of houses, 

 church-steeples, old towers and ruins, in cliffs or in high rocks over- 

 hanging the sea, and in wooden boxes put up for its accommodation. 

 The material used for the nest is twigs, straws and fine grasses. 



The eggs are four to six in number, of a pale greenish-blue or bluish- 

 white. A set of five eggs collected by W. Wells Bladden, May 4, in 



* Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, VIII, 43-14. 



