140 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the roosts will hardly conceive it possible that they are natives 

 only of the limited area surrounding the roost, and we can only 

 conclude that the true natives of the district receive additional 

 numbers that migrate thither from outside districts or even from 

 the Continent. 



I will conclude with a statement which may perhaps be re- 

 ceived with incredulity. Nearly all ornithological writers say 

 that Starlings breed two, and occasionally three times a year. 

 Careful observation has convinced me that a very large propor- 

 tion of Starlings — perhaps one-half — rear only one brood in the 

 year ; many rear two broods. I have never known three broods, 

 and there are some Starlings that do not breed at all. Mr. 

 G. W. Murdoch, Natural History Editor of the 'Yorkshire 

 Weekly Post,' writes in reply to a query on this point : — " In 

 Hants Starlings very often breed twice a year; I never knew 

 them do so in Scotland. I am of opinion that a good many 

 Starlings never breed at all, but for what cause I know not. That 

 is also the opinion of my friend the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, M.A., 

 author of ' The Fauna of Lakeland.' " Mr. E. S. Cobbold writes 

 in April, 1899 : — " Why are the Starlings congregating in flocks 

 now? Hundreds fly over Stretton from the south-east at 5 or 

 6 p.m. to roost, I think, in a Scotch fir-plantation near ; I have 

 seen them three nights in succession, and on April 3rd I saw 

 rather large flocks down by Craven Arms feeding together." He 

 adds that at the very time when he saw the flocks flying overhead, 

 the Starlings that were breeding about his house were busy 

 looking after their nests or young, and did not take any 

 notice of the others, much less offer to fly off after them. " Is 

 it," he concludes, " the autumn habit not yet abandoned ? I 

 am inclined to think not, for I remember in previous years 

 noticing them early in summer, when I supposed they had done 

 breeding." 



A simple and probable explanation of the phenomenon is 

 this : — When Starlings rear two broods in the year, the second 

 brood would be younger than the first by some two months or 

 so. When the breeding season comes round in the following 

 spring, the second broods are not sufficiently adult to breed, and, 

 not having any duties to call them elsewhere, they naturally 

 continue to resort at night to the old familiar roost. This 



