428 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Sparrows frequently save themselves the trouble of nest building by 

 taking the nest of the house martin. This theft is occasionally revenged 

 by the martin claying up the hole to the nest and making the sparrow a 

 prisoner. The sparrow is a wonderful bird in that it seems to be able to 

 live wherever man can. It can stand the North American cold and the 

 Australian heat. Miss E. A. Ormerod mentions the sparrow as driving 

 away martins and swallows. Mr. F. V. Theobald says he has examined 

 the food in fifty sparrows, of which forty-two had grain in their crops, 

 two no result, six grain and larva? of winter moth and some aphides. 



Starling : Sturnus vulgaris. 



This bird, which we so frequently see on the lawns in the early 

 morning aDd on the house-tops and chimneys later in the day, is seen in 

 huge flocks at some seasons of the year, their evolutions in the air being 

 very wonderful. These birds move from one place to another dependent 

 on the supply of food, and are generally increasing in numbers in England 

 and Scotland, greatly to the detriment of fruit-growers. It very 

 frequently makes its nest on or near houses, and has two broods each of 

 from four to seven young. 



It has an unfortunate habit of making its nest in the hole which the' 

 woodpecker has made with great pains, and so decreases the numbers of 

 that useful and interesting bird. 



In hard weather the starlings are said to migrate to Cornwall and 

 Wales and the Western Counties and other parts of the country where 

 the frosts are not so intense. In the forests of Belgium and Germany, 

 owing to the large number of grubs eaten by this bird, and on which 

 the young are fed, artificial nesting places are made for them. They are 

 valuable on grass land and in forests, but steal most kinds of fruit, being 

 very fond of cherries, and in Essex are very severe on raspberries. 



Starlings are frequently seen on sheep eating the " ticks," and around 

 cattle, apparently eating insects disturbed by their feet. Starlings 

 frequently accompany rooks, and attack newly sown corn and seed- 

 lings. The Board of Agriculture leaflet gives the following as the 

 food of the starling : — Worms, snails, chafer larvae, beetles, wire- 

 worms, surface-caterpillars, larvae of Daddy Longlegs, together with 

 pupae and eggs ; and summarises its habits as chiefly useful to agriculture 

 and garden, but a most serious pest to fruit. Miss Ormerod mentions it 

 as eating the larvae of the Diamond-back moth (Plutclla cruciferarum), 

 Silver Y moth (Plusia gamma), and the garden chafer (Phyllopcrtha 

 horticola). 



Robin : Erithaeus nubecula. 



This companionable little bird that comes and settles beside one when 

 one digs, devours vast quantities of earthworms and searches among dead 

 leaves under trees and bushes for insects. Yarrell says that they show 

 great attachment for each other, and pair for life ; but they are also the 

 most pugnacious among birds, and maintain their right to a certain limited 

 domain against all intruders ; they are generally distributed over the 

 British Tsles. 



