80 
THE STARLING, 
while the keeper, that slave of Nimrod, receives 
thanks, and often a boon, from the surrounding 
sportsmen, for having freed the dovecot from such 
a pest. Alas ! these poor starlings had merely re- 
sorted to it for shelter and protection, and were in 
no way responsible for the fragments of egg-shells 
which were strewed upon the floor. These fragments 
were the work of deep -designing knaves, and not of [ 
the harmless starling. 
The rat and the weasel were the real destroyers ; 
but they had done the deed of mischief in the dark, 
unseen and unsuspected ; while the stranger starlings 
were taken, condemned, and executed, for having 
been found in a place built for other tenants of a 
more profitable description. 
After the closest examination of the form and 
economy of the starling, you will be at a loss to pro- 
duce any proof of its being an egg-sucker. If it 
really sucks the eggs of pigeons, it would equally i 
suck the eggs of other birds ; and, those eggs not 
being concealed in the dark recesses of the pigeon- 
cot, but exposed in open nests on the ground, and 
often in the leafless bushes of the hedge, this fact j 
would afford to the inquisitive naturalist innumer- j 
able opportunities of detecting the bird in its de- 1 
predations. Now who has ever seen the starling! 
in the absolute act of plundering a nest ? It builds ' 
its nest here, in company with the ringdove, the J 
robin, the greenfinch, the wagtail, the jackdaw, thei 
chaffinch, and the owl, but it never touches their ^ 
eggs. Indeed, if it were in the habit of annoying'] 
its immediate neighbours, upon so tender a point as] 
