134 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



distance. The number of birds assembling each night in autumn 

 at this roost is enormous, and towards the end of September or 

 early in October it is further increased by flocks from Caynton 

 and other places. The reason for this is curious. Where the roost 

 is situated on a reed-bed, the reeds get so completely broken 

 down in autumn — when they are much more brittle than in 

 summer—that the Starlings cannot get a footing on them. Thus 

 it happens that roosts of this kind are always deserted early in 

 October. At Caynton Mr. Paddock says that when the reeds 

 break down the Starlings resort to a bed of osiers on another part 

 of the pool, and finally desert those when the leaves fall off. 

 Roosts of the other class — on trees and underwoods — are resorted 

 to much longer. Indeed, the one at Moreton Corbet is never 

 quite deserted ; a few small flocks resorting to it through the 

 winter and spring, and even in the breeding season. 



The general habits of the Starling may be thus described : 

 During summer they scatter in pairs all over the country to breed, 

 except perhaps small flocks of young birds that do not breed. 

 Even now they seem not to lose their gregariousness, for I have 

 often found from twenty to thirty nests within such a limited area 

 as the ruins of Haughmond Abbey. This is probably more 

 apparent than real, and is due to the number of convenient 

 nesting-holes in such localities. The nest is generally placed in 

 some kind of cavity — in a hole in a tree or wall, under the eaves 

 of houses, amongst piles of loose stones, in a rotten tree-stump, 

 &c. Very rarely it is open to the air, and last year I noticed a 

 very queer instance on the Buries, close to my house at Bayston 

 Hill. It was on a large branch of a very tall ash tree close to 

 the trunk, and, as far as I could see from below, was made 

 entirely of sheep's wool ! I watched the bird on and off the nest 

 several times, or should never have recognized the lump of wool 

 as a Starling's nest. 



Mr. R. Moses writes that for several years in succession two 

 Starlings' nests were to be seen in Shrewsbury, wedged in be- 

 tween two chimney-stacks four inches apart ; they rested on 

 nothing, and it is a mystery how the birds began them. Mr. 

 Palmer says he has several times found the nest in ivy against 

 a tree-trunk. 



Ordinarily the nest is an untidy mass of hay or straw, lined 



