10 BULLETIN 868, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
search of nesting sites. By the middle of the month this process is 
completed, although the birds often return to the old roosts for the 
night until nest building is started. 
For nesting sites, old woodpecker holes, natural cavities in trees, 
bird houses Gaecalty those intended Pe bluebirds, flickers, and 
martins), and cornices or crevices about buildings are most poe 
chosen, although nests have been found on fire escapes, hay tracks, 
and barn doors, behind window shutters, and even in open boxes 
erected for pigeons. In fact, any cavity, regardless of size of opening 
or depth, may be utilized if the ae is able to enter it at all. 
The nesting sites chosen are frequently soede protected from rain; 
ponecqnentty the nests are foul and damp. 
In the mere construction and occupancy of their ee stare 
have been the source of some complaint. Being sturdy Eee and 
equipped with bills well suited for tearing things to pieces, though 
not especially adapted to chiseling healthy wood, they will at times 
do damage to roofs not recently shingled. The clogging of hay 
tracks or tracks of barn doors with their nests is occasionally a 
source of trouble, and the infesting of the immediate vicinity of 
their homes with bird lice is complained of when they build. about 
water tanks, poultry houses, etc. The filthiness of their nests, due 
to the great quantity of excreta deposited, is also a common com- 
plaint, especially when the birds choose some spot immediately 
above the doorstep for their breeding operations. This condition 
prevails most often during the latter stages of the nestling life, when 
the parent birds are unable to remove all the accumulation. 
The height at which starlings nest is variable, the lowest nest cavity 
observed being 2 feet from the ground and the highest fully 40 feet. 
When they nest in trees the cavities usually range from 10:to 25 
feet from the ground. 
The nest itself is usually composed almost entirely of dry grasses 
and is sufficiently large to fill the bottom of a cavity 3 te 4 inches 
deep. The interior of the nest will approximate 3 inches in diameter. 
A little green foliage, usually a few leaves taken from a near-by 
branch, is dispersed throughout the grassy structure. The interior 
is lined sparingly with feathers of domestic fowls. Straw, corn 
husks, string, and cloth are other materials sometimes used in nest 
building. Nesting sites used for several years in succession gradu- 
ally fill up with a partly decayed mass of these materials. From one 
nest in the cornice of a sawmill a good half bushel of material was 
removed. 
The eggs are of a pale-blue color and number from 3 to 6 to the set. 
Incubation lasts about 12 days. The young remain in the nest 
from 2 to 3 weeks, or until they are able to fly, which they do well 
on their first attempt. This habit, combmed with the protected nest 
