150 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



Order PASSEBES. Family STURNIDuE. 



STARLING. 



Sturnus vulgaris, L. 



Although the Starling was a scarce breeding bird in Lakeland 

 at the beginning of the present century, and has only grown 

 enormously numerous during the last thirty years, it is not, 

 strictly, a modern settler in our midst. An entry occurs in Lord 

 William Howard's Household Book, between May 18th and 

 25th, 1621 : 'A pig, a capon, and young starlins, ij s. iij d.' The 

 wonderful augmentation in the numbers of this bird is due in 

 our case to the changes which have been brought about in the 

 character of the country. So long as dense forests or wild 

 moorlands prevailed, the Starling had little chance of increasing; 

 but since skill and capital converted the wet floes and heather- 

 covered wastes into rough pasture or arable lands (again trans- 

 formed into grazing land), the increase of insects which feed on 

 grass crops has been accompanied by a corresponding increase 

 in the numbers of the Starling. Nowadays the Starling nests 

 everywhere in the woods, in the hay-stacks, under the eaves, in 

 loose stone walls, or even in the burrows of Sand Martins, as I 

 observed at Maryport in 1888. In t}ie month of May the shrill 

 discordant cries of the unfledged Starlings jar upon a sensitive 

 ear, but they soon grow strong and flock together, while the old 

 birds in many cases rear second broods. While catering for 

 their young in the nest, Starlings generally fly with their plunder 

 in a direct bee-line across the fields to their nurselings. Many 

 birds never breed at all, so far as can be ascertained, but frequent 

 the salt marshes gregariously during the summer months. Such 

 birds are probably males which have failed to find mates, and 

 are thus devoted to an existence of single blessedness. The 

 finest Starling roost with which I am personally acquainted in 

 Lakeland is that which has become established at Murrell Hill, 

 near Carlisle, since 1881. This roost is the resort of Starlings 

 from all the country round. As early as the second week in 

 June these birds begin to frequent their favourite rendezvous ; 

 by the end of July their numbers are reinforced largely, and so 

 continue until the third week of October, after which the army 



