288 
STURNIDiE. 
the winter their hosts of migratory starlings * Mr. Knapp re- 
marks,, that they sometimes associate, but not cordially, with field- 
fares (Turdus pilaris). Smith, in his History of Cork, quaintly 
observes : — “ They company with redwings and fieldfares, yet do 
not go off with them.” The Rev. G. M. Black informs me, that 
at Newtown-Crommelin, in the county of Antrim, where they are 
in immense flocks throughout the winter, they are always asso- 
ciated with these birds. It is interesting to observe the different 
mode of flight of the three species, when roused from the same 
feeding ground ; the fieldfares and redwings taking their departure 
in a loose flock ; the starlings separating from them, and keeping 
in a compact body. These birds feed much in company with rooks. 
Mr. R. Ball remarks, that “ starlings seem to have fixed on our 
celebrated round towers as favourite nestling-places,” and certainly 
these buildings are admirably suited to such a purpose, there is so 
little danger of molestation. t Ruins generally, old trees, rocks, J 
* In parts of the county of Cork they appear in large flocks in winter, where rarely 
one is seen in summer. Mr. Poole, writing from the county of Wexford, remarks : — 
“ The immense numbers of these birds to be met with here in winter, cannot possibly 
be bred in this country. I should think that we owed nine-tenths of the flocks to mi- 
gration. October the 6th and 7th are the earliest dates at which I have observed 
flocks of these birds, and the 27th of March, the latest. They feed in company with 
lapwings in low grounds, and during inundations, in the neighbourhood of water, some- 
times almost in it. A solitary stare will sometimes be seen in company with a whole 
flock of lapwings. They are very partial to the vicinity of sheep, and often feed close 
to the heels of these animals, I suspect on the insects attracted by their warmth. They 
are pugnacious, often leaping at each other like game-cocks. Large flights pass over 
us every morning on their way to their feeding grounds, and come hack the same way.” 
f Mr. Hyndman, when visiting Tory Island, off the north of Donegal, at the 
beginning of August, 1845, saw a dozen of these birds about some loose rocks or 
“ boulders,” which they were said to frequent generally, except at the breeding season, 
when they resort to the round tower to build. 
X When at the peninsula of “the Horn” (co. Donegal), and at the largest of the South 
Islands of Arran, I was informed that they build in the lofty precipices which rise 
above the ocean. At the latter locality, they also nidificate in ruined buildings. In Dr. 
J. D. Marshall’s memoir on the Statistics and Natural History of the Island of Rath- 
lin, published in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy in 1886, it is remarked 
of the starling : — “ This is one of the most common birds in Rathlin. It is found 
over the greater part of the island, but principally about Church Bay, where the 
houses are more numerous, and where there are a few trees and shrubs. In July they 
were assembled in flocks of from one to two hundred, dispersing themselves over the 
fields and along the sea-shores. They frequented the more rocky parts of the pasture- 
fields. * * * * They build among the rocks.” Prom the “ Fauna of Cork ” we 
learn that they breed “ plentifully in the rocks at Renayne Bay, &c.” 
