THE STARLING. 



485 



time. Before retiring to rest they perform numerous manoeuvres in 

 the air, the whole colony frequently describing rapid counter-flights 

 round a common centre. They will sometimes continue repeating 

 the eccentric evolutions for half an hour before they finally settle for 

 the night." Their favourite food is insects, worms, and small terres- 

 trial molluscs, occasionally seeds and berries. They select for their 

 nesting-places hollows of decaying trees, crevices of walls, the bel- 

 fries of old churches, the ledges of roofs, and sometimes even the in- 

 terior of pigeon-houses. The nest is formed of dry grass, in which 



Fig. 201. — Starling. 



five light blue eggs are laid. The Starling is accused of seeking the 

 shelter of the dovecot for the purpose of sucking the inhabitants' 

 eggs, but this is now found to be a calumnious error. They are 

 diffused over all quarters of the globe. There are two species de- 

 scribed among European birds — Sturnus vulgaris, Fig. 201 (the Com- 

 mon Starling) and Sturnus unicolor (the Sardinian Starling), which is 

 black, and without spots, with the anterior feathers very long, tapering, 

 and drooping from the base of the neck. It is also found in Algeria 

 among the rocks, where it builds. It passes the winter on the African 

 coast of the Mediterranean, in company with the Common Starling. 

 Its flesh is bitter, and consequently unpleasant to the taste, so when 



