464 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



other species in this countr}'. The great factors which govern 

 the life of all birds are — first, food ; and, secondly, immunity 

 from attack during the nesting season. Climate, of course, also 

 plays an important part, periodical seasons of extreme cold 

 having an appalling effect on certain birds. But Starlings have 

 very little to fear from any of these, their habits being in every 

 way suited to human civilization ; their diet is so varied that they 

 are very rarely short of food ; their nest is always built in holes, 

 either in houses or trees, and therefore they are practically safe 

 from that pest that follows in the wake of all civilization — the 

 domestic Cat. And what is the result ? The same energy which 

 compels them to seek food, compels them also to find somehow 

 or somewhere suitable places to rear their young, the consequence 

 being that some other species has to suffer. For some years 

 past I have watched the struggles enacted between Starlings and 

 Green Woodpeckers for the possession of the latter's nesting- 

 site, and in not a single case have I seen the Woodpeckers able 

 to hold their own. I should like to be able to think that these 

 cases are only local, but cannot do so, as every year, without in 

 any way searching for them, the same struggles, both near 

 habitations and in large woods and forests, are being continually 

 forced upon my notice. The country now appears to be, so to 

 speak, inundated with Starlings. Near the house I was able 

 daily to watch two cases most closely, and to note how the 

 Starlings planned their attack, and the length of time they took 

 to achieve their object. 



In the first case the struggle lasted a week ; in the second, I 

 was beginning to congratulate myself that at last a Woodpecker 

 had won the day, when one morning I noticed, with great disgust, 

 a Starling, carrying straws in its bill, disappear into the hole, 

 thereby proving that the fight was over. If it was only a 

 pair of Woodpeckers versus a pair of Starlings, I think it very 

 probable that the Woodpeckers would hold their own ; but it is 

 not so. A number of Starlings collect on or about the tree in 

 which the Woodpecker is, and they all in their turn mob him, 

 and worry his life, until, tired out, he goes off in the hope of 

 finding some other place where he can nest in safety. It is 

 obvious that Woodpeckers are a class of birds whose habits are 

 clearly not adapted to civilization, while woods and forests are 



