THE C0I\1M0N STARLING. 
117 
tbe second broods, accompanied by tlie parents. They keep 
together all the winter, dispersing about the middle of March, 
sometimes a month later if the weather be severe, and associate 
with Tieldfares, Golden Plovers, Gulls, and indeed with most 
birds which feed upon the ground. When the Starling con- 
fines itself to the harvest fields for a week or two, it becomes 
excellent eating; in winter and spring, however, when it resorts 
to the sea-shore, or, far worse, to farm-yard middens, or, worse 
yet, to the too frequent carcase of sheep, cow, or pony, the 
shooting it for the table is out of the question : indeed, with 
the exception of the barn-door fowl and the domestic duck, it 
would be difficult to find a more disgusting feeder. In early 
autumn the flocks roost among the shrubs ; but after the leaves 
have fallen, they generally betake themselves to the stubble, 
which in Shetland is always long, except in those districts 
where an improved style of farming prevails. 
The Merlin preys extensively upon Starlings ; and although 
no birds are so ready to '' mob” it under ordinary circumstances, 
no sooner does the enemy appear above them, when they are 
in the trees, than they display the greatest terror, shrinking 
back among the foliage, and uttering cries of fear and appre- 
hension. The Starling imitates the note or cry of almost every 
other bird, not even excepting the Herring Gull, but its chief 
models seem to be the Oyster-catcher, the Eedshank, the Golden 
Plover, the Whimbrel, and the Curlew ; these it mimics so per- 
fectly as often to deceive the most experienced ear. Its own 
spring note is well known and appreciated, but it occasionally 
degenerates into a perfect medley of sounds, including the 
notes of other species which are decidedly unmusical. 
I am sorry to have to say anything in support of the charge 
of egg-stealing, after Mr Yarrell’s lenient treatment of it ; I 
have, however, known the Skylark’s eggs destroyed, and have 
detected a pair of Starlings in the very act of devouring the 
eggs of Pigeons, although supposed to be merely attending to 
their own brood in one of the compartments of the dovecot. 
The male has been accused of laziness, but very unjustly. 
