1921.] 



The Starling. 



1115 



seven pale bluish eggs are laid early in April, and sometimes 

 there is a second brood. Incubation is shared by both sexes, 

 and extends over period of from 12 to 14 days ; the fledglings 

 are ready to leave the nest about three weeks later. 



As has frequently been pointed out, this bird is most variable 

 in its movements, even from the time of leaving the nest. Its 

 habit of moving about in flocks during the spring and summer 

 months constitutes a grave danger; while later the habit of 

 collecting at special roosts frequently causes much damage to 

 young fir plantations, shrubberies and reed-beds. 



It is exceedingly difficult even approximately to estimate 

 the actual number of pairs of breeding birds in this country, 

 but for the purpose of illustrating the rate of increase we will 

 presume that in 1917 there were 100,000 pairs of starlings 

 breeding in Great Britain (which is considerably under the 

 actual figure) , and that each pair reared three pairs of young, 

 half of each sex, and that all lived together with their off- 

 spring. The progeny and parents in a single year would total 

 800,000. At the end of 1918 this number would have increased 

 to 3,200,000, the addition in 1919 would make the total 

 12,800,000, while at the end of 1920 there would be over 

 51,000,000 birds. 



These figures are calculated on the basis of a single brood 

 per year, though in many parts of the country there are two 

 broods. Even allowing for a very high rate of mortality, it 

 is clear that the annual increase is enormous, and supplemented 

 as it is by immigrants, the number of these birds at present 

 is far greater than the country can naturally support. 



As the number of starlings has increased annually, a gradual 

 change in the nature of the food consumed by these birds has 

 taken place. There is fairly reasonable evidence to show that 

 in the past the bulk of the food consisted of insects and insect 

 larvae, slugs, snails, earthworms, millipedes, weed seeds, and 

 wild fruits ; in more recent years this has been supplemented by 

 cereals and cultivated fruits and roots. Some writers have 

 affirmed that once the fruit-eating habit is acquired, they 

 refuse the other available food. 



As a winter visitor large numbers come to the British Isles 

 from Northern and Central Europe, and others pay a passing 

 visit when en route between Continental summer and winter 

 quarters. From observation on the east coast of Scotland the 

 writer can attest to the arrival daily during September, 1915, 

 of flocks of starlings from one to five thousand. In 1916 the 



