STARLING. 
89 
was seen by W. Bond at the Abbey Meadow some time about 1870. Mr. Macaulay 
records (‘ Mid. Nat.,’ 1882, p. 10) that a specimen was killed at Laughton 
(probably about 18G5), and is now in the possession of the Kev. A. Matthews, 
and that four others were shot at Burton Overy, during severe frost, in Feb., 
1881. I saw a beautiful specimen, in the bands of a bird-stuff er, shot in 
Braunstone Lane by Mr. T. H. Ashby, 7th Nov., 1885, and as there are some 
remarkable circumstances attending its history, it may be as well to publish 
them here. The original specimen, which I saw in the flesh, was stolen from 
the shop of the man who had it, and who, to make good the loss, substituted 
for it an American example of the same species. It was afterwards sold to 
another bird-stufier for one penny ; and he, knowing its history, had the audacity 
to offer it to me for three shillings, and this after I had tried to purchase it 
for the Museum, and the owner had positively declined to part with it. Where 
the local specimen is now I do not know, but it is highly improbable that it is 
in the possession of Mr. Ashby. Such are the tricks played upon ornithologists, 
and it is thus that many of the notes are manufactured which appear in the 
various Natural History periodicals. 
In Rutland. — A rare winter visitant. — I am informed that one was seen by 
Lady Gainsborough at Cottesmore, in 1883. 
Section OSCINES-CULTRIROSTRES. 
Family STURNID^. 
STARLING. Sturmis vulgaris, Linnaeus. 
“ Shepster,” “ Stare,” “ Starnel.” 
Resident and common ; breeding even in the town of Leicester. — Harley 
truthfully remarks that no bird appears to enjoy a bath more than the Starling. 
I ma}" be mistaken, but it appears to me to have become more companionable, 
drawing nearer to Man of late years ; and although I consider this to be one 
of the most valuable of all the insectivorous birds, from the rapidity with which 
it clears lawns, grass-plots, etc., from noxious insects, yet there is no denying 
the fact that it takes toll, to an alarming extent, of the berries of some of our 
trees, especially the mountain-ash or rowan, to which it appears particularly 
partial. 
In the spring, I have, to my dismay, seen it, with great quickness, cut 
off the leaves of various plants such as polemoniums, pinks, etc., seeming to 
prefer a long leaf, although, singularly enough, it did not appear to care for 
the leaves of the narcissi, which, I should have thought, would have suited 
it much better for nest-building. I saw many of these birds nesting in boxes 
placed in trees opposite ]Mr. W. Whitaker’s hall-door at Wistow, in May, 1885. 
